Narcoleptic Equals ?
by Tropicall
Summary: A brother to her, that's what she tells herself. Only a brother. But how long can you keep feelings hidden, even when they worm themselves up? Ace x OC FINISHED
1. Big Catch

**Author: Okay, so I suddenly had the urge to write an Ace x OC story. I'm planning on making it a multichapter thing with nice long chapters like this one. I hope you guys will like it, so please tell me if I should keep on going and how long I should make it. I would appreciate it **

**Ace's POV**

"Luffy! You know you can't swim! " I shouted. That idiot followed me again. Now he would glomp all over me.

"But Ace!" He whined. Oh shit, now he's going to make _the_ _face_. "Dadan told me to play with you!"

"Dadan can kiss my ass. Go back, do your homework." I said. Dadan made Luffy wear ridiculous red swimming trunks. They were really tight and looked just like Luffy's underwear. It was kinda painful just looking at them.

I turned my back toward him and started swimming towards the big lone boulder where you could fish the best. Suddenly Luffy launched himself toward me and wrapped his rubbery arms around my neck, causing me to nearly fall over.

"Lu…ffy…ca…n't … bre…the!" I gasped. He then loosed his grip. I grabbed his legs so he wouldn't fall off and started making my way towards the boulder.

His first whiny face now turned into _the face_. I really should teach myself to become immune to it. He has me wrapped around his rubbery little thumb.

"How d'ya like my new swimming shorts Ace? They match my hat!" He said excitedly. Of course he even wore the hat whilst swimming. He even wears it while bathing.

"They're way too tight Lu. And too red. You're twelve already, kids who are seven wear those kinds." I said tauntingly.

"No they're not! Dadan told me you wore these kinds too!" Luffy said.

Dadan told him?!? That bitch. I only wore them once. Once for God's sakes!

I ignored what he just said. Luffy realized it was true and he fell over laughing.

"Hey Luffy, you know how rubber bounces?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Want to see how high you can bounce?" I threatened him.

Luffy gulped and violently shook his head. His face was full of fear. I started laughing so much, I cried. Luffy was mad now and he was slamming his tiny little fists into my stomach. It just made me laugh more.

Suddenly the line was pulling a lot. Did I catch the local Sea King? Quickly I grabbed the pole and started reeling it in. It wasn't hard at all. I looked down and saw a girl with lots of long black hair.

"A mermaid?" Luffy and me said in unison. She was really light and I got her on the rock. She looked around my age. The girl wasn't moving. Oh wait a minute! She's wasn't breathing either but she wasn't cold. Quickly I started doing compressions to get the water out.

She coughed it all up on me. The girl opened her eyes. They were acidic green.

"Oww…" she moaned. I then noticed all the cuts on her body.

"Nii-chan, do you think we need to bring her to Dadan?"

I picked her up. She weighed nearly nothing.

"Lu, I'm gonna bring her to shore first, I'll come back for you."

I could easily feel all her bones. Maybe she came from a shipwreck. She's also really pretty I realized. Her eyes had thick, dark lashes, and they were shaped like a cat's. Her nose was like a small slope, and her lips were big and puffy. And she wasn't a mermaid. She had pretty long, skinny legs.

"Where am I?" she said so softly I barely heard it.

"Fuchsia Village in East Blue." I responded. "What's your name? I'm Ace."

"Quinn…" She muttered and then she closed her eyes again.

I put her down on the sandy beach and I then made my way back to Luffy who was waving impatiently. On purpose I slowed down just to annoy him.

"Nii-chan!" He said in his whiniest voice.

"Gosh, my legs are getting tired, maybe I should just go back and bring the girl to Dadan." I said with a smirk.

"Nooo!!! Don't leave me here!! I wanna meet the mermaid too!" He panicked

I climbed onto the rock and took Luffy on my back. As soon as he was on, he knocked my head.

"Hey you monkey, maybe I'll drop you here." I grumbled even though it didn't hurt a bit.

"You wouldn't do that!" Luffy said with a laugh. I took his leg and dangled him so he just wouldn't touch the water.

"Watch me." I said. And then I threw him over, onto the beach.

"Nii-chan!" Luffy said angrily as he bounced against a palm tree. The coconuts then proceeded to fall on his head. I laughed at Luffy, as he was there, lying in a crumpled heap with three goose eggs on his head.

Immediately he stood up and started shouting at me. I picked up Quinn and started walking to the house. Luffy followed with an angry expression and his arms crossed. He would be fine as soon as I made lunch for both of us.

Quinn was still unconscious as we entered the house. Dadan wasn't there. On the kitchen table was a note.

_Luffy, Ace,_

_My sister broke her leg, so I'm going to tend her. I'll be back in around a month. The gang is with me._

_Dadan._

Guess I was going to have to fix her up myself. Luffy grabbed the note and read it.

"Hooray! No training for a month!" Luffy cheered. He went from angry to happy in a matter of seconds.

"Go do your homework. I'm gonna fix her up and then I'll make lunch okay? Don't go bothering Makino." I told him.

"Do I have to?" Luffy pouted.

"Yes." I said firmly, and I walked to the bathroom. I grabbed the medical kit and then looked back at Quinn. She was still unconscious. She was also kinda dirty, so I moved her into the shower and started rinsing her skin. All the water was reddish brown. Her clothes were bloody too, but I don't think she would want me to fix her there.

I took a cotton ball and wet it with some disinfectant. It was just like treating Luffy. It was easy because she wasn't moving. Within a matter of minutes, everything that wasn't clothed was done. Hesitatingly, I lifted up her shirt so I could see her stomach. She's really skinny too, I can just count her ribs. She was totally flat anyways, so I just took of the shirt. Nothing interesting there. I resumed disinfecting everything and then bandaging it. I ripped off the skirt, as it was in tatters. Somehow, her panties remained a pristine red. A little black bow was in front, and some lacing was around the edges.

I laughed at that. I've never seen a girl's panties before, but I don't think all girls wore red ones with bows. Thankfully Dadan hadn't tried yet to buy that kind of stuff for me. I would have to burn them.

Just as I was finished, Quinn woke up. Immediately she jolted up.

"Why am I only in my panties?!?" She screamed. "Pervert!"

Quinn covered herself with her arms and ran out, only pausing to throw my toothbrush, a really cool one with my name on it, in the toilet.

"Hey!" I said angrily. After fishing out my toothbrush, I quickly I ran after her and caught her arm.

"I had to treat your wounds okay? You were all bloody and your clothes were tattered and bloody, so I figured you were wounded there too."

She just looked at me angrily. What's the big deal? I'm only wearing my swimming trunks.

"Can I then at least borrow some clothes?" She had to look up to talk to me as she was way shorter than me.

"I'm not sure if mine will fit you…" I said awkwardly as I led her to the room Luffy and I shared. It's really messy, and underwear was strayed across the room like sprinkles. Whatever. I took went to my closet and took out my only shirt left, my really cool one with the flames.

Quinn snatched it from my hand and put it on. It was like a dress on her.

"You hungry?" I asked her.

"No." She said coldly.

"But you're as skinny as a skeleton." I said.

"My problem." Quinn hissed. Her stomach then let out a huge growl. I had to do my best to choke off my laughter, as she didn't seem in a mood for fun.

"Suit yourself." I said as I left her alone in the room.

**Quinn's POV**

He closed the door. That Ace made me fume! How could he just undress me with the lame excuse he had to treat my wounds? I looked at my arms and legs. I was surprised to see bandages covering almost every part of my body. The pristine white was dotted with bright red.

Oops. Guess he was actually treating me. My stomach grumbled again. Stupid stomach. I'm not going to eat with that Ace. I'll grab something when he's not looking. The shirt he gave me was pretty cool. There were lots of flames on it, and it was really comfy. And big. Ace towered at least one head over me. To see his face I had to look almost completely up. His freckles were pretty cute, as he looked my age and yet he still had the childish feature. My stomach grumbled loudly again, and the agonizing scent of good food drifted into the room. I decided to go anyway, since I really was hungry. Ace can laugh all he wants.

With my head high, I walked to what I hoped was the kitchen. Even though I was kinda embarrassed I was wearing Ace's shirt. His parents would get the wrong idea. But then I heard two people laughing. There are two people? Not his mom or dad I hope. Hesitatingly I walked into the kitchen with a blush. A small, scrawny kid looked up at me. He was wearing a straw hat and these super tight red swimming shorts.

"Hey, are you the mermaid?" He said with a huge grin.

I was too stunned to react. A mermaid?

"Luffy, she obviously has legs, I'm guessing she's not a mermaid." Ace said sarcastically.

"How boring…" Luffy said with a pout and he turned back to his food, which he started shoving into his mouth with an incredible speed.

"I knew you couldn't resist my awesome cooking." Ace said with a smirk.

My stomach grumbled yet again to confirm it.

I then noticed there was only one chair left, the one parallel to Ace. I sat down, and Ace stood up. He returned shortly with a plate full of potatoes and beef.

"Thank you." I said as pleasantly as I could.

Ace just raised his eyebrow and went back to eating himself. Just as he sat down, he suddenly fell asleep. His face went flat into the food, yet Luffy didn't take any notice. Did he just die? I stared at the unmoving guy, when Luffy's arms stretched to take some of my potatoes.

"Hey! Give me that back!" I shouted as I grabbed the stretching arm. His skin was… rubbery. I twisted his arm, and he yelped and let my potato go.

"Don't try that again brat!" I threatened him.

He slunk into the chair and muttered a sorry. Then he resumed to steal the food off of what I assumed to be his big brother's plate. Ace then suddenly sat up again, only to shout when he saw his food disappearing into Luffy's mouth. He immediately tackled Luffy to the floor, and took back the beef.

"You monkey, don't steal food or there's no dinner for you!" He shouted.

I looked at the abnormal scene with a smile.

"Is he your little brother?" I asked.

"Yep, this brat my kid brother."

"I'm not a brat!" Luffy shouted.

"Then don't act like one!" Ace bit back.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" He said happily to me. "And that ugly asshole is my lame older brother Portgas D. Ace."

I gasped. Monkey?

"Whadya dust say?"Ace grumbled with his mouth full. He tackled Luffy again. "Who taught you to say asshole kid? And who's ugly and lame huh?" Ace said angrily.

"I heard Dadan mutter it when Grandpa visited." Luffy said whilst trying to squirm away from his older brother. "And your super ugly and super lame Ace!"

Luffy stuck his tongue out and Ace just proceeded to smirk devilishly.

"Let me be super lame then and not give you any dinner and make you give your bed to Quinn here."

"Why do I have to give my bed to the mermaid?" Luffy said unhappily.

"Because your ugly older brother doesn't want a brat who's disrespectful to the great Ace-sama sleeping on a bed." Ace grinned.

"Ace-sama huh?" I said with a grin.

"But where do I sleep then nii-chan?" Luffy whined.

"Not my problem." Ace said as he stood up. He then proceeded to shove his food in his mouth at a lightning speed, finishing the plate in a matter of seconds. He then returned with another plate, full to the brim. Luffy was doing the same and I was just staring at the insane amount of food they were putting away.

"Dwo you nwot wike the food?" Luffy struggled to say with his mouth full of food. I snapped out of my trance and resumed eating. Ace had again fallen asleep in his food, and Luffy proceeded to cram all the food in his mouth. The food was really good, better than I expected from a guy of around fifteen.

Ace woke up again and shouted at Luffy. He shouted some more when he found out Luffy had already eaten all the food.

"You gonna eat that?" Ace said as he sat down.

"I'm full." I said, and I pushed the plate towards him.

"But you barely ate anything!" Luffy exclaimed.

"I got full watching you guys put away food that could last a family of six for a month." I stated. "You guys have stomachs like a whirlpool, they suck everything in."

"You think?" Ace said with a surprised face.

I just stared at him like he was a complete idiot.

Luffy scraped his chair back. "I'm gonna take a shower."

"Be careful, I didn't clean up the medical stuff yet, and the showers still kinda bloody." Ace said.

Luffy just walked away. Thirty seconds later we heard Luffy shout.

"The shower's all bloody and all the medical supplies are there. And there some bloody clothes!"

"Is he really that thick?" I asked.

"Sure is." Ace said. He left the table too. "I'm gonna clean it up."

He too walked away, leaving me sitting at the table alone. I was still kinda hungry, so I looked in the fridge. The fridge was crammed with an almost impossible amount of meat. I then looked in the cabinets, where I found some cake. I took a slice and ate it as fast as I could. I checked the shirt for crumbs and my mouth too.

Then I wandered around the house. I guess I'll be staying here for a while. I then remembered what happened before Ace carried me to shore. Shit. I then heard Luffy and Ace talking. I opened the door a crack and looked in. Ace was disinfecting a small cut on Luffy's finger.

"Luffy, why did you grab the broken piece of glass? You knew it would be sharp right?" Ace said with a sigh. This was different side of him. You could easily see the they loved each other a lot. Were they really brothers?

"Quinn?" Ace asked.

Crap, he spotted me.

"Umm… Ace, can I sleep here for the night?" I quickly asked.

"Weren't you already staying here?" He asked back.

"I didn't really know." I said with a blush on my face.

"Oh yeah, where'd you come from? We kind of fished you up on the beach." Ace asked.

"I don't remember anything before you carried me to shore." I muttered. I wasn't going to tell him.

No?" Ace said with a surprised look on his face.

"Well, then you can stay here for as long as you'd like!" Luffy said with a big grin.

"Really? Thank you so much!" I gratefully said. Guiltily I thought about the lie, but it was for their own good.

"But she's not gonna sleep in my bed right?" Luffy asked worriedly.

We'll put the mattresses together so we can all sleep." Ace said. "If Quinn is okay with that."

"Yeah sure."

I'm going to have to make sure I'll sleep with Luffy next to me. I can't say no because that would be rude and it's really nice of them to take me in.

"I'll get the beds ready." I offered. I shouldn't be a burden to them.

Ace nodded and then proceeded with treating Luffy's cut.

Thankfully I remembered where the bedroom was. The room itself was a big mess. Their underwear and clothes were everywhere. There even was a pair of boxers hanging from the lamp. It had… fried chicken on it. That's kinda creepy.

I ignored the underwear and put the two mattresses together. First they were on each side of the room. I took the sheets and spread them out. One smelled really good. But not like perfume or anything. Just good.

I went back to the bathroom so I could wash my face before I went to bed. The door was open so I walked in. Big mistake. Ace just stepped out of his trunks and was directly facing me. Luffy was stark naked and brushing his teeth.

Ace and I started blushing and Luffy just looked at me and kept on brushing his teeth. I was frozen in the spot. Then I moved again, and Ace pulled his trunks up and nonchalantly went into the shower.

"Sorry…" I muttered. "I just wanted to wash my face."

I closed the door and left. Ace shirtless hadn't really bothered me, but that was just too much information. I walked into the kitchen and washed my face there. In the water I saw my reflection.

My cheek had a bruise and my forehead had a pretty nasty cut that had completely soaked the bandage. I would have to ask Ace to change my other bandages too as they were also almost completely red.

Luffy left the bathroom stark naked. He didn't blush or anything either when I came in. I hope it won't get awkward with Ace and me. I have no idea how long I'm staying here. And since I don't have any clothes I can't really go out. I hope Ace and Luffy won't go out.

Ace then also came out of the bathroom, but he only had a towel hanging from his hips. Water droplets were sliding down his torso.

"S-sorry about the barging in…" I stuttered at the sight.

"It's ok. Would you like me to change the bandages before we sleep?" He offered.

Ace is actually a pretty nice guy I realized.

"I would like that." I said with a weak smile. My eyelids are really heavy and I can barely stay awake.

"I'll be ready in five." Ace said as he entered the bedroom.

It was really hard to keep my eyes from closing. Every time I blinked my eyes didn't want to open again. I hope I don't fall asleep while Ace is changing my bandages. That would be just too embarrassing.

Ace then came from the bedroom wearing only some boxers.

"You don't like shirts much do you?" I asked sleepily.

"Not really." Ace admitted.

He opened the door for me and let me enter first. Ace pulled out a crate where I could sit on. Slowly he unwrapped all the bandages on my legs. I tried to be still but all the wounds stung. They were all pretty deep and didn't look too good.

"I'm going to have to disinfect them again. It's going to hurt a lot." He said. He then handed me a towel. I questioningly looked at them.

"To bite on. So you won't wake Luffy."

Hesitatingly I placed it in my mouth. Ace then put some nasty smelling stuff on a cotton ball and gently dabbed it on the wounds. Thank God I had the towel. I would have broken all the windows.

After a few minutes of agony my legs were done.

"You're pretty good at bandaging people. You get hurt a lot?"

"Yeah, my grandpa likes to train us. Nearly every day I need to take out the kit and get started again. He wants us to be Marines." Ace said with disgust.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"Off catching pirates. He left us here with Dadan to take care of us. But Dadan and he know I'm not becoming a Marine. I'm going to become a pirate eventually. But he refuses to acknowledge it."

"That's pretty crappy." I said.

"I'm going to start on your arms now." He stated.

I put the towel back in my mouth, as the ugly wounds got uncovered. After some more agonizing minutes, Ace hesitated.

"You're going to have to take off my shirt. I can't reach the wounds on your back or on your stomach."

I turned my back to him and then I took it off.

**Ace's POV**

It was kind of embarrassing seeing her nearly naked when she's conscious. You could easily spot her spine vertebrae. All the bandages were nearly completely red. I hope she doesn't need any stitches. I wasn't too good at those. I worked neatly, cutting off the bandages and pulling them off as gently as I could.

Quinn winced every time though. I hoped the wounds would heal fast. Again I had to disinfect everything. Her back was the worst, with nasty gashes covering it almost entirely. I had to use several cotton balls, as all of them got soaked with blood. The bleeding wasn't as bad anymore though, so that was good.

"Quinn, I'm going to have to do your stomach now." I gently said. Even though she barely had boobs, she still didn't like showing them. I had to do my best to not stare. She was looking the other way, but her face was red. As quickly as possible I changed the bandages and disinfected the wounds. Nearly all the bandages were gone now. Next morning I had to get new ones and some clothes for her, as I only owned a couple of shirts.

Now I had to put the bandages around her boobs.

"Tell me if it's too tight." I said. It was pretty hard to not touch them while wrapping the bandage around. She gasped, so I guess I did it too tight.

"Sorry!" I muttered quickly. After about a minute my job was done.

"I'm finished." I said as I turned around. "I'll see you in the bedroom okay?"

Quickly I left. How many more days would I have to change the bandages? And it was awkward enough that she barged in just as I was going to take a shower. I thought sleeping in the same bed wasn't going to be bad either, but what else was I supposed to do. The couch is like sleeping on stone.

Tiredly I collapsed on the mattresses. Luffy was sound asleep. Quinn shuffled in quietly and lay down next to me. Her back was facing me. She must still be embarrassed. Even though she's super flat. Her boobs are barely as big as peas. "What are you thinking about?" Quinn quietly whispered. She turned to face me.

"About what kind of clothes I'm going to have to buy for you tomorrow." I quickly lied. I could hardly say your boobs.

"Don't get me anything pink." She answered.

"Ok."

We didn't talk any more after that and slowly we fell asleep.

I woke up in the morning with Luffy gone. Quinn was holding me, and one of her legs was wrapped around my butt. Her face was right below my neck. She smelled really good too, despite all her wounds. But it's not like I got the urge to start kissing her like I had with one other girl. That romance didn't end so well when she heard I beat up some thugs half to death.

"Mmm…" Quinn moaned as she stretched herself. She somehow got even closer.

"Good morning sleeping beauty." I taunted her.

"Huh?" She replied groggily. "Why's my leg around your butt?"

"That's what I wondered. You can keep it there." I said. I turned around so I was lying on my back and Quinn was on op of me. Even though I didn't like her like that, this was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

"You're not very comfortable…" She yawned. "Too many muscles."

Her head again dropped to my chest and she fell asleep again. Looks like Quinn isn't much of a morning person. I tried to extract myself from Quinn, with no success. I had to be careful because her wounds would open and take longer to heal. Which would mean more awkwardness.

Guess I just have to wake her up. First I blew in her ear. Nothing. I burped in her ear. Nothing. I poked her. Nothing.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!?" I shouted exasperatedly.

She just snuggled closer.

I stood up. Quinn just hung on. I tried getting her arms from around my neck but she didn't budge a bit. This is worse than Luffy's glomping sessions. I walked over to the kitchen and got a pan and a wooden spoon. No matter how loud I hit the pan, she didn't budge. The poor spoon broke in half and I gave up. Why can't I just take my stupid morning shower?

Suddenly I got a good idea. I filled the pan with the freezing cold water, and I splashed it all over Quinn and me. Finally she opened her damn eyes. She yawned and went back to sleep. Angrily I pried her eyes open.

"Wake up!" I growled.

"Huh?" She said with a confused look. "Why so angry?"

"Because, for the past hour I've been trying to pry you from me! I tried everything and you wouldn't budge!"

"Oh…" she simply said with a sleep-drunk expression

"Please get off of me and go sleep in the bed!" I angrily said, barely keeping my temper in control.

Slowly she slid off of me and staggered drunkenly to the bedroom, only to miss the door and walk into the wall. She rubbed her forehead and then continued into the bedroom.

I went to the bathroom with a sigh. I had tons of things to do, and this morning challenge didn't help in the least. Sadly I fished my toothbrush from the sink and washed it six times. Then I took the shortest shower ever.

After just ten minutes of preparing myself I ran in the village and bought more food, a new wooden spoon and lastly, clothes for Quinn. But how would I do that? Everybody knew I did chores for Dadan, but there wasn't a teenage girl where I lived.

I didn't know what to do so I went over to Makino. The bar wasn't open and she was just washing some glasses.

"Good morning Ace, what brings you here?" she asked pleasantly.

Quickly I started with my story. "Makino, now I have to buy clothes for her. And underwear. And I can't do that. Rumors will start again and you know we can't use much more negative attention because Garp will move Luffy somewhere else."

"Well Ace, you're in luck. I still have all my clothes from when I was in my teens. You can have them. There's underwear too, so don't worry about that." Makino said with a smile.

Quickly I bowed and thanked her as she gave me the stuff after a while. Juggling all the stuff I bought, I went home again.

"I'm back!" I shouted loudly.

"Nii-chan.." Luffy said as he hung down my leg. "I'm so hungry. Two hours without food…" His tongue was hanging from his mouth. He always did the starving boy act pretty well.

"I'm going to put this stuff away and then I'll start okay? Take this to Quinn for me." I told him, handing him the bag Makino prepared.

Immediately he shot up and ran to the bedroom. In ten minutes I was starting on a breakfast consisting of sausages, bacon and toast. Luffy kept on trying to take the scalding hot meat from the several frying pans. No doubt I would also be treating burns today.

A miracle also happened. Quinn came out of her bed and started showering and getting dressed. I can't believe she actually got out. I'm so getting another mattress after breakfast. No way I could stand through having her skinny little body hanging from my neck for an hour again.

Makino's clothes looked pretty good on her. She was wearing some green shorts with a white shirt and a black blazer. Green suited her.

"Can I help with anything?" She asked.

"Could you set the table please?"

After a few minutes we were actually eating quietly for once. Except for Luffy and me eating frantically, Luffy didn't try to steal any food, and Quinn looked like she wasn't really awake yet. After everything was finished, Quinn helped me clean off the table and I forced Luffy to work on his homework.

"I'm gonna buy another mattress." I stated as I walked out of the door.

Slowly the day passed with nothing uneventful. Days passed like that. Quinn's wounds healed and nobody even thought about her leaving. Dadan returned and took her in because of Garp insisting for some kind of reason. Even though as Quinn turned out to have just as big of an appetite and a monstrous strength like us.

And so Ace left to the path of piracy, with only the promise of meeting up with Luffy and joining his crew then. Quinn left shortly after Ace, and promising him the same thing. And Luffy then also left, leaving Garp with two of his grandsons turned to piracy, and an extra granddaughter who wasn't much better.

**Author: Okay, so this is my new record, 5,027 words. I hope everybody liked it. Please point out my mistakes. I know it's super long (!!11 pages!!) but I enjoyed writing it. **

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	2. I Don't Know

**Author: As you will notice, I'm changing a lot of things. I'm totally up to date with the manga and anime, so please don't review saying "Oh, that not true you know". Don't spoil it for the people who aren't completely caught up. **

**So this chapter is early because I got time off of school because of Queen's Day, a Dutch holiday. **

**I fixed chapter one and modified some stuff, so if you don't want to get too confused, re-read it. Sorry about that, but I want the story to piece together. If you want chapter three to be uploaded on Saturday, I want five reviews. I don't need a superlong one, just say like, I liked the scence with whatever.**

**Ace's POV**

"Have you seen a man wearing a straw hat?" I politely asked the man.

"No.." He replied glancing at the bounty poster. "There's a restaurant up ahead, the owner is well connected. I would ask him."

"Thank you." I said with a bow.

As I continued towards the restaurant up ahead, worry flecked my thoughts. Did Luffy get the message in Drum? Was he all right? But I shouldn't worry so much. That kid was born under one hella lucky star. Even the old fart couldn't get him into harm, which was one damn impressive feat.

Quinn might be around here too. The girl had been flanking the newspapers for some while now. But so had Luffy and I. But with our articles they would say the places where we went crazy. Every article mentioning her said that they couldn't locate her, only her name written on a wall. Pesky girl.

I entered the restaurant and sat down on a barstool.

"The house specialty please." I requested of the owner.

In five minutes I had a plate of steaming rice in front of me.

"The rest of the menu too." I asked with my mouth full. This small plate wasn't going to cut it.

"_You all have stomachs like whirpools!" Dadan complained as we again cleaned the house of any food. "Everything gets sucked in and nothing escapes!"_

"So sir, I was wondering if you…"

**Quinn's POV **

This damn desert country was hotter than a summer's day in Fuchsia Village. And those were pretty hot. I was only wearing a white piece of cloth around my chest, short leather pants and long cowboy boots that came over my knees. It took me almost everything to make it seem as if the heat wasn't affecting me in the slightest bit.

Then I spotted a restaurant with a big crowd in front of it. Quickly I jogged towards it.

"A customer just died in there…" Somebody whispered.

"They say he ate a Desert Strawberry, a poisonous kind of spider that looks just like a strawberry. This shows just how dangerous the desert is…"

"I knew the poison was strong, but not like that… He just died in the middle of conversing with the owner and in midbite."

Oh God, this sounded quite familiar. That freckled idiot had gotten another one of his narcoleptic fits. One day he'll drown in his soup. With a sigh I pushed aside the people and entered the restaurant. The place was empty and in a mess.

A muscular back with a flaming spade tattoo faced me. So he got a tattoo. It's pretty cool actually. Slightly wavy hair peeked out from under an orange cowboy hat rimmed with big red beads. And of course, in his hand was a fork with some meat on it.

"Typical…"

I stood directly in front of him, wondering what I should do to wake him up. Suddenly, his head jolted upwards.

"Huh?" Ace groggily said.

"HE CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD!"

"HE'S ALIVE!" The crowd shouted.

"Oh…" he said as it dawned upon him. "I fell asleep."

And then he ate the meat on his fork. I knew there was only one idiot like that. Ace noticed his face was covered in rice, so he used the woman's skirt to wipe his face. On his right bicep was a tattoo spelling ASCE, with the S crossed out. He probably didn't notice the mistake until the tattoo was done.

"We thought you died!" Everybody happily exclaimed with a sigh,

"You hire comedians or something?" He said pointing his thumb towards the crowd.

"Uhm... No, we're just glad you're alright." The owner replied.

And then his freckled face fell in his food again.

"DON'T FALL ASLEEP!" They all shouted at him.

He woke up again, which is probably due to him breathing in some rice or whatever.

"Yo." I said as I stood behind him.

He turned around and I saw the surprised look on his face.

"Hey Quinn, long time no see. Didn't expect to find you here as the damn papers don't tell a thing about where you are."

"Didn't expect to see you here either _Fire-Fist _Ace."

"Better than Mystery Quinn. Not a track of you of you to find anywhere, except your name." Ace tauntingly said.

"You'll find out how I did that… _eventually_." I playfully answered. "Besides, when I saw the crowd outside saying somebody died in here whilst conversing and eating, I knew there could only be one freckled idiot like that. Nice tattoos by the way."

"Took the tattoo artist six hours for just the outline on my back. I spent three days in agony. It was worth it though. I soon came back for the tattoo on my bicep."

"I got a tattoo too." I commented.

"Where then huh?" He sarcastically asked.

"Ace in big bold letters on my butt. Wanna see?" I joked.

"I'm honored my names graces your rear. Why not on you're newly developed chest?" He asked, obviously staring. Last time he saw me my chest was about as big as two peas. Even though my décolleté wasn't that big, it's still bigger than he ever saw.

**Flashback**

"_If you don't have feet, would you wear shoes?" Ace suddenly asked._

"_No…" I answered with a confused look._

"_Then why do you wear a bra? Nothing interesting there." He said with a smirk._

"_Asshole. Like your chest is something to be proud of. Just because you finally got a two pack doesn't mean you have to show the whole village." I bit back._

"_It's not a two pack!" Ace said defensively while stroking the said muscles._

"_Sorry, my mistake, a one pack. Even Luffy's chest is better developed than yours."_

"_Luffy has a better developed chest than you, you mean." Ace said angrily. Him and I were both on the brink of attacking each other._

"_Take that back freckled baby!" I shouted, grabbing tufts of his hair while tackling him off of the chair he was sitting on._

"_I'm sixteen scrawny midget!" Ace screamed back, flipping me under him._

"_Little-brother complexed maggot!" _

"_Shortsighted prude!"_

"_Nasty man-whore!"_

"_I only kissed one damn girl, and that was you! How does that make me a man-whore!?!"_

"_You're always looking at those dirty magazines the old…"_

"_WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?!?" Garp shouted as he saw the two teenagers fighting like little kids._

_Ace had Quinn in a chokehold and Quinn was about to kick him in the nuts. Her hand held a tuft of black hair and her lip was split. Ace's nose was bleeding and both looked at each other furiously._

"_He said my chest was tiny!"_

"_She said my chest was less developed than Luffy's!"_

"_He said even Luffy's chest was bigger than mine!"_

"_Huh?" Luffy said as he walked by and heard people making remarks about his chest._

"_She called me a freckled baby and a maggot with a little-brother complex!"_

"_He called me a shortsighted prude!"_

"_She called me a man-whore!"_

_Then we both realized Garp was paying attention. He was showing Luffy the booger he just dug out._

"_PAY ATTENTION!" We both screamed._

"_He said, she said." He mimicked with a whiny voice. "STRONG MARINES DON'T FIGHT WITH WORDS! THEY FIGHT WITH FISTS! LIKE MEN!" He proudly boomed after flicking away the booger in our general direcion._

"_As a matter of fact, I am a female." I said emotionlessly._

"_Not that you look like one." Ace muttered under his breath._

"_You little fucker!" I angrily spat as I again tackled him._

"_I'm betting on Quinn." Garp said as he saw Ace struggling to move from my iron grip.._

"_Ace all the way." Luffy said watching Ace bend my arm to its limit._

**End of flashback**

"I noticed myself too." I said with a grin.

"Got a couple of inches too, you might actually reach my shoulders now."

"What about Luffy you think? He got much taller?" I asked, ignoring the obvious jab at my former height.

"You tell me, last time I saw him he was still fourteen and only barely taller than you."

"You're no fun are you?" I complained. Then I saw his eyes bulge out in surprise as suddenly I was launched forwards, against Ace. After we came to a halt, we both immediately went on warpath.

"Which asshole did that!?!" I growled.

Ace then noticed we were charging right through somebody's dinner.

"Sorry for intruding." Ace said politely with a bow. Why couldn't he be that polite to me?

Immediately he changed back to angry and marched forward. Quickly I pushed him into the ground and sprinted forward as I saw the familiar straw-hat-covered and scarred face.

"Hey Luffy!" I greeted him with a big smile.

He just kept on shoving food in his mouth while staring at me.

"Luffy, stop eating." I said getting annoyed.

Then suddenly recognition dawned upon him. Immediately the contents of his mouth were spewed out at me.

"Hey Quinn! What are you doing here in Alabasta?" Luffy happily said. (A/N At first I thought it was A_r_abasta, but it is, in fact, Alabasta. In like episode 92, when the Eternal Pose is shown, it says Alabasta. Curse it.)

"I was just stopping here for some supplies." I answered. "What about you?"

"Bwim gwona bweat bwup Cwokwodwil." He mumbled with his mouth full.

"Sir Crocodile? The Shichibukai?" Ace exclaimed. "Luffy, what did the guy do to you?"

There he goes all worried again about Luffy. It was a crazy thing to say, but knowing Luffy, he'll actually do it.

"You're not going to be able to stop him you know." I told Ace.

"You're such a troublesome little monkey."

"My friend Vivi, she's the princess, found out he's manipulating the country. And to stop war, she wants to stop Crocodile. So I'm gonna beat him up." Luffy said with a careless smile.

"Oh God..." Ace and me said in unison.

"Well, must be true since Luffy can't lie for his life." I said with a sigh. This was going to be a troublesome stop. And we both said we'd join his crew.

"Luffy, where's your nakama?"

"Don't know. I left the ship first to find meat." Luffy said after swallowing his last bite.

"Have any idea where you're docked?" Ace asked.

"Nope." Luffy answered with a big grin.

"Let's go find the sea then, we'll see your ship sooner or later." I proposed.

"No you won't." A deep voice said. His face was covered in shadows so I couldn't recognize him. "Straw hat Luffy, Fire-fist Ace and Mystery Quinn. Two of the biggest lone pirates talking with a rookie like Straw hat. What the hell's the connection?"

"He's my kid brother." Ace and I said as if it was the most obvious thing. "You're one of the biggest pirates on the Grand Line. How come the last names are different?" The guy asked with a raised eyebrow.

We walked past him, talking about where the ship could be. Nobody cared about what the Marine had to say.

"Hey listen to me!!" He angrily shouted. 'Marines, attack Straw-hat Luffy!"

Immediately Marines started pouring out from everywhere. Luffy started running like crazy and we had to do our best to follow him. Then he spotted his nakama, and like the dense idiot he is, he instantly started running towards them.

"You go to the ship Luffy!" I shouted.

"We'll keep 'em busy!"

Hesitantly the crew started running and Ace and I nodded towards each other.

"So you ate what Devil's Fruit?"

"How'd ya guess?" I said with a chuckle. "Wind-wind Fruit. It's a secret though." I raised my index fingers to my lips.

"Flame-flame fruit."

He made a wall of fire (A/N Sorry, don't know the attacks name, so I'll just describe them 'k?) and I helped him by raising a big wind. The flames started getting quite long and went vertical, burning quite a number of Marines. The annoying Marine captain then sent smoke towards us. Crap! Another damn Logia.

"Ace, let me deal with him! Smoke isn't too good against wind!" I shouted.

"I'll keep the troops busy!"

"You picked the wrong opponent." I growled at the captain that now fully appeared in front of me.

"How you know so sure?"

I just smirked at the over-confident captain. He turned to smoke again, and I raised a big tornado, blowing him away a couple of miles. I started running in the direction Luffy went and Ace soon followed.

**Ace's POV**

Quinn stealthily jumped on the rooftops and I followed her.

"What are we doing on the roofs?" I asked curiously.

"We can spot them more easily this way. See, look that his ship I guess. Only he would have a straw hat Jolly Roger." She pointed.

"What's Luffy doing here then?" I asked her, as Luffy was slowly walking through the alley below us.

"Let's find out." Quinn said with a wink as she jumped below.

"Hey Quinn! Hey Ace! You guys ate Devil's Fruits?" Luffy asked us with sparkling eyes as we landed next to him.

"Flame-flame Fruit."

"Wind-wind Fruit. You got split up from your nakama_ again_?" Quinn said with a sigh.

"We spotted your ship though. It has a straw hat Jolly Roger right?" Ace said.

"Yep."

I noticed the distant figures looming from several windows and lurking in corners. Looks like Luffy got himself another crowd of enemies.

"Let's get to the coast then." Quinn said. Her eyes met mine and she motioned towards one of the figures. I nodded as I had noticed them too.

Slowly we sauntered through the alleys. It's coming in handy that I've already been here a couple of days. Then the figures showed themselves.

"Fire-fist Ace, Mystery Quinn and Straw Hat Luffy. Your heads are ours." A burly man with a lot of chest hair said. We ignored all of them and just went on ahead. They just stood there stunned and we then we could clearly see the sea. Luffy's ship was not too far from the coast. He launched himself on board and we followed soon followed using our ships.

"But I'm stronger than him now!" Luffy said with a booming laugh.

"Stronger than who?" I said as he stood on the ship's railing.

"You're still a scrawny scatterbrained idiot." Quinn added.

"Luffy, who the hell are they?" A muscled guy with three katana whose hair reminded me off moss asked.

"Ace's my older brother and Quinn's my older sister!" Luffy grinned.

"You have siblings Luffy?!?" They all shouted with a surprised look.

"Hey Luffy, you keepin' silent about us? That's not too nice…" I said lazily. "You'll pay for that you little maggot!" Quinn shouted as she kicked Luffy off of the ship.

Immediately the crew went into attack mode, the guy with the katana unsheathed them and they all were ready for battle.

"Chill…" I said with a bored expression as I watched Quinn's artificial air current bring Luffy back.

"Sorry…" Luffy said as Quinn let him roughly fall onto the deck.

They relaxed and a guy with a curly eyebrow offered us something to drink. We accepted and soon Luffy, a raccoon-dog and a long-nosed man were toasting to all kinds of different things. I was just sitting on a barrel observing them with a smile. Looks like my kid brother found some good nakama.

Quinn was talking to a good-looking, orange-haired girl with a big bust. Just as they looked over, the curly-eyebrow guy started fighting with the swordsman. Insults were being thrown around and when I looked back at Quinn and the redhead, they were both laughing.

I sauntered over to them.

"What's so funny?" I asked with a curious grin.

"Luffy." The redhead replied, giving me a sexy smile and a good view of her boobs. "And you."

"So you were talking about me?" I replied with a husky voice.

I was flirting with this girl just to annoy Quinn. She hated it when I just ignored her and started hitting on one of her friends. Then she stopped bringing friends and started hanging out with Luffy and me. I never really wondered why. I heard her huff and she walked away.

The redhead was still flirting with me and I forgot to pay attention. Quickly I faked a narcoleptic fit. I almost never did that but this was an emergency. I heard Quinn's laughter and the mad walking away of what I assumed was the redhead. Luffy soon joined in with Quinn while the rest of the crew were probably wondering what the hell just happened.

"He's narcoleptic. He randomly falls asleep." Quinn said.

"It happens everywhere! Once, he almost drowned in his soup!" Luffy excitedly added.

I think it was Quinn who walked over to me, and then she blew in my ear. Quickly I 'awoke' and groggily did as if I just woke up. I hope I wasn't going to need this trick more often.

"Faker." Quinn whispered in my ear.

The girl with the long blue hair was now smiling.

"So Luffy, how come both your siblings ate a Devil's Fruit?" She curiously asked.

"Yeah! You had it even before you became a pirate right? And before I saw you I never even knew a Devil's Fruit actually existed!" The guy with a long nose added.

"I ate the Gum-gum fruit when I was seven. Shanks and his crew had taken it from an enemy ship and I accidentally ate it for dessert." Luffy said without thinking much of it. "I didn't even know Ace or Quinn ate one until now."

"I ate the Flame-flame fruit shortly after leaving our hometown. I had just taken over a ship, and there, under lock and key I found it. I ate it, thinking it was probably something boring when suddenly my hand turned into fire." I told.

"I saw a Marine captain try to buy it from a merchant on the first island I visited on the Grand Line. His face annoyed the crap outta me, so I stole it and ate it. The captain angrily shouted to me that I just stole his Devil's Fruit and some other stuff. I didn't really care or think I actually ate one."

As soon as they heard our stories they stared at us like we were idiots.

"What can be the chances of three siblings each eating a Devil's Fruit unknowingly…" The swordsman said shaking his head.

"Everybody knows how one sort of looks like…" The guy with the long nose added.

"All three of them are hopeless idiots… They do come from the same gene pool though…" The redhead sighed.

"I should make a medicine against stupidity…" The raccoon dog ambitiously said.

"Hey!" Quinn huffed. "Luffy and Ace's stories were way dumber!"

"Not really." I said. "Who steals a fruit from somebody just because their face annoys you?" I taunted her.

"Who eats a fruit without knowing what it is?" She bit back.

"Exactly what you did smartass." I replied

"I was driven by my annoyance of his ugly face!" Quinn shouted back. "You take out an enemy ship and what do you do when you find a fruit? You eat it, not thinking about if it's poisoned or not!"

"If it was poisoned, why did they put it in a treasure chest then huh?"

"To fool morons like you! Narcoleptic asshole!"

"Whore!" I shouted back. Why the hell was she now comfortable with showing that much skin? "You're almost naked!"

"Look who's talking! You've been showing your bare torso for over four years!"

"And what are you? My mom? Last time I checked, she was dead!"

"Good job bringing that up! Luffy like, right next to us you know!"

We both looked over to him and saw his face. His usually cheerful face lost all emotion.

"Good job imbecile." Quinn bit at me as she started comforting Luffy.

You could hear the shushed whispers coming from the two of them. The entire crew looked uncomfortable with the fight we just had and angrily I stormed inside the ship. That was so stupid of me. I was his older brother, and what do I do? I just make him feel bad about our mother's death.

"You guys always fight like that?" The swordsman asked.

"We fight a lot, but not like this." I told him with a sigh. "How's Luffy comin' along?"

"He's fine, I bet he's already bouncing around asking Sanji for food." He grumbled. "I'm Zoro by the way."

"Ace." I said, leaning my head backwards over the edge of the couch.

**Quinn's POV**

That stupid asshole! How could he just bring that up when Luffy was right next to us? It's been some time now, so I could more or less bring him to his usual state, but seriously, what is his problem? You could see that Luffy still wasn't comfortable talking about it. He blurted out the most private things randomly.

"What was all that about Quinn-san?" The blue-haired girl asked hesitantly. "Do you and Ace-san fight a lot?"

"Yeah, but usually we just call each other names you know. Like Zoro and Sanji." I told her. "Are you the princess of this country, Nefertari Vivi?" I curiously enquired. Also because I didn't want to talk about this any longer.

"Yes. Alabasta is on the brink of civil war because of Crocodile…" She sadly sighed.

"Yeah, Luffy told me." I said. "I'm gonna go talk with Ace okay?"

I stood up and walked inside the ship. Soon I spotted him talking to Zoro. With just one look, he excused himself and followed me to the end of the ship.

"I guess you have something to say to me." I angrily said. I brought my face up to his and looked him square in the eyes.

"Sorry…" He mumbled.

"You better be!" I hissed, grabbing his face. "Luffy was nearly over it when I left! When you left, he was lifeless! Don't reopen old wounds you didn't close! You left!" I said, my tears running. "You saw how bad he was! You want him to turn back to that?"

"I know how bad he was. How do you know I felt when I saw him like that? I couldn't do anything! You were the only one making progress, while I couldn't do a thing. I'm his older brother but I couldn't protect him from that…" He mumbled. My tears were flowing uncontrollably, and he put his arms around me.

"She was my mother too… You guys share the same dad, but he died before Luffy was born and you can't even remember him…" I sobbed into his chest. Something dripped into my hair and I realized he was crying too. Slowly and soundlessly like the strong man he had become. And as I bawled, I realized his strong, callused hands were slowly rubbing in circles on my back. Just like I did with Luffy to patch him up.

"What happened to fixing you?" Ace mumbled.

"I don't know…" I whispered into his chest. His heart was beating erratically, with uneven, fast beats…I stopped crying and wiped my arm over my eyes as I took a step backwards.

"I look like crap now don't I." I said with a failed attempt at a smile. From my backpack I got a dirty shirt and wiped my face with it.

"You always look fine…" Ace said with his hands stuffed in his pockets. His face was looking the other way. Guess he still can't properly compliment somebody.

"Let's go before they're gonna wonder what were up to." I said when I felt a bit a better.

"Yeah, we still need to get to know everybody."


	3. Mission Accomplished

**Ace's POV**

Why was my heart beating so unevenly when I held Quinn? Why did I just want to keep her there forever? Why did I want to feel even more of her smooth skin? For all the time she's lived with us, it never happened. Just something weird after not seeing her for three years probably.

She's changed so much… Not only physically, but she's not some girl. At twenty now, she's a women. She can control her emotions better. Usually, she would just explode all over you without any warning. Now everything's locked away. You can barely reach her.

"So, since I and Ace are joining this crew, your names would help." Quinn announced to the crew standing on the front deck.

"I'm Zoro." Zoro grumbled. " "I'm Sanji, the cook." The guy with the curly eyebrow said, taking Quinn's hand and placing a kiss on it. "The fine aroma you emit madam is nothing compared to the best cuisine."

The swordsman."

"I'm Nami, and I'm the navigator." The redhead said, looking directly at me, showing exactly what she wanted from me. Guess I still haven't discouraged her.

"I'm the brave warrior of the sea, Captain Usooooop-sama! A first-class sniper!" The long-nosed man loudly shouted. The lie was obvious.

Instead of awkwardly looking at him, Quinn gave him a charming smile and whispered something to him. In response, his nose started bleeding heavily.

"You do realize ero-cook, her older brother is glaring at you right now. He's the human form of fire. I wouldn't attempt to seduce her. At least not in front of him" Zoro said emotionlessly.

I realized I was glaring at him. The I'm-gonna-kill-you-if-you-make-one-more-move glare. Quinn stuck out her tongue at me and Sanji immediately backed off.

"I'm Vivi. I'm not really part of this crew, only a temporary guest." The blue-haired girl said.

"I'm Chopper, and I'm the doctor." The raccoon-dog said. "And I'm a reindeer who ate the Human-human fruit, so now I can talk and think like a human."

"Oh my God! Look at all those ships!" Vivi shouted.

"They all have the Baroque Works symbol on them!" Usopp shouted. "They're so many!"

"The Billions are gathering." Vivi said.

"We'll take care of 'em." Ace said, winking at me.

"You'll do the right side?"

He nodded and went on his small little boat, which he propelled with flames from under his feet. I took my small sailing boat and soon flanked him. Quickly I formed one of my slicing air currents and split all the ships on the left side in half. A whirlwind picked the pieces up and knocked them together, splintering everything inside. We returned together, with that entire fleet destroyed in a mere fifteen seconds.

The entire crew was looking at us with open mouths.

"The elder siblings of a monster will of course be, even bigger monsters." Nami said shaking her head.

"Just as I planned! Good job Ace and Quinn!" Usopp said with a nervous laugh. Quinn raised her eyebrow at him and then walked back towards the rest of the crew. Her hips swayed from side to side in an intoxicating trance. God, she's changed so damn much. I can barely recognize her.

"So, where are we going right now?" She asked nobody in particular.

Nami rolled out an Alabastan map and started pointing towards things

"We're right here." She started explaining. "We are going to anchor the ship about here. Erumalu should allow us to get some extra provisions if needed. Then we'll make the trek to Yuba through the desert. The Rebel Army's base is there."

Quinn nodded and then they were in conversation. I stopped paying attention and just relaxed…

**Zoro's POV**

Ace sure is protective of Quinn. He's looking at her all the time and is always behind her. Maybe she went crazy back home, wherever that is…

**Quinn's POV**

Nami explained to me what the plan was. I wasn't too worried about the desert trek. Everything was planned pretty well. How did my little brother find such a good crew? Even though Nami's obviously interested in Ace. What does she see in the freckled idiot?

Yeah sure he looks pretty good, with his muscular body and slightly scruffy black hair. The freckles gave him an innocent air, while his black eyes said exactly the opposite. And of course, his hat. Who knew orange could be so alluring…

The anchor dropped in the sea and cloaks were being hand out.

"Quinn-chwan, you have no cloak! If you get too tired or hot, I'll carry you!"

From my backpack I extracted a light blue cloack with white swirls along the edges. Ace was already wearing a black one with red flames. Typical. But I could say the same for myself.

"Thanks for the offer Sanji, but I think I'll pass." I sweetly told him. Gracefully I jumped off of the ship and followed the rest of the group.

"We made it!!" Luffy shouted. "Yuba!"

In front of him were some ruins of a city. This is Erumalu? The Green City?

"Wait a minute. There's nothing here!!" He said as he scratched his head. "Let's look for the Leader? Where is he?" Luffy asked as he turned around to face the rest of us.

"No Luffy-san, this isn't Yuba yet. We still have walk North-West through the desert for half a day." Viva said with a nervous smile.

"HALF A DAY?!!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Green town? But there's nothing green around here." Luffy said with a confused expression.

"No, not anymore." Vivi started explaining.

"Kuo!" A cute seal-like being said with an armored belly.

"Whoa! What the hell is that, a turtle!"

"A seal?!" Usopp shouted in surprise.

"It's a kung-fu dugong!" Vivi shouted.

"Kung fu?" Usopp said wearily, getting ready to battle it.

"No Usopp-san, get away from it!" She screamed. "They're strong."

Usopp lied heavily beat up next to the dugong, who was celebrating it's victory happily. It's such a cute little thing.

"You lost." Zoro commented on the pitiful scene.

"We have a winner over here…" Nami said pointing at Luffy. The scene was the exact opposite of what happened to Usopp.

"DON'T BEAT THEM EITHER!! It's the kung-fu dugong law that the loser of a fight becomes the winner's student."

The dugong stood up again and faced Luffy. He bowed his head, and Luffy was just surprisedly looking at it.

"They're martial artists then." Zoro said.

"You should keep it as a pet Luffy!" I shouted with a grin. It's so cute!

"No, the stance goes like this!" Luffy motioned. An army of dugongs, all happily imitating him, surrounded him.

"HOW DID YOU GET SO MANY?!!" Vivi screamed. That was probably the entire population of dugongs right there.

"Now, in formation!" Luffy happily shouted with his fist in the air.

"KUO!" They all answered.

"Luffy, you can't seriously be thinking about trekking with them through the desert?" Nami sighed.

"Luffy-san, they can't come with us. They're marine animals." Vivi said nervously.

"KUO!!!" All the dugongs shouted at Vivi.

Chopper was fishing something out of his backpack.

"You guys can have this if you stay here okay?" He said with a piece of meat in his outstretched hoof.

"KUO!" They refused.

I looked at Ace who was chuckling at the absurd scene. Only Luffy could make a simple landing turn into a whole crisis.

What I assumed was the leader of the dugongs was waving us out with the meat in its mouth. Looks like Chopper were successful.

"Now let's go to Yuba!!" Luffy said with a carefree smile, totally oblivious to the crisis he could have caused.

"You wasted almost all of our food!" Sanji complained.

"If Chopper hadn't talked them out of it, we'd be in major trouble!" Nami chided Luffy.

"Yeah, they kept saying, "We'll go with you"… I had to give them our food to stop them." Chopper added.

"Why can't we take them along?" Luffy asked.

"We can't get into any towns with that many trailing along!!" Nami said exasperatedly. "You idiot!"

"The dugongs in this country are pretty weird Vivi-chan. They live in the river?" Sanji inquired.

"No, the ocean." Vivi answered. "Ever since ancient times, the Sandora river has sustained this country. But lately, the river has lost the force it once had, and now it's being pushed back by the sea." She sadly added.

"Then the water those dugongs live in is…" Sanji started.

"Salt water." Vivi finished for him. "We can't use it on fields or drink it."

"Is that why this village dried up?" Zoro asked.

"No. They collected water on the rare occasions when it rained, and the town survived off of that, most of the time. Up until recently, this town was a lively place, full of green plants."

"This place?" Ace said with a confused look. We had entered the ghost town itself, and it looked like people hadn't lived here for a long time. Buildings were being buried by the sand, and dried out palms dotted the landscape. It's a sad sight. Luffy picked up an old skull from the sand, while Chopper's face lost all color.

"However…" Vivi kept on going. "In the past three years, not a single drop of rain has fallen in the entire country…"  
"Is that port town going to be okay?" Chopper asked worriedly.

"Nanohana gets its water supply from the oasis at Katorea, so they're safe. Even in Alabasta, no rainfall has never been something to worry about, for thousands of years. But there was always one place that got more rain than anywhere else. The capital Alubarna." Everybody was listening intently to Vivi, even though we were all noticing the sad state of Erumalu. "The city built around the King's palace. People called it the King's Miracle. At least, they did up until that day…" She sadly sighed.

**Flashback 2 years ago**

**Port town Nanohana**

"LET DOWN THE CARGO!" A worker boomed. Two huge sacks were on a cart being pulled by four men. They were all sweating heavily, attesting to the extreme weight of their transport. Then, one wheel broke off of the cart.

"LOOK OUT!!!"

"YOU'LL BE CRUSHED!!!"

"JUMP OUT OF THE WAY!!!"

People were screaming and panicking. The sacks had ripped, and a strange green powder was falling out.

"HEY, ARE YOU OKAY?!"

"ARE YOU INJURED?" People worriedly shouted to each other.

"Oh!! Oh, crap!! We're in trouble now!!" One of the workers shouted with a panicked expression. "We have to deliver this to King Cobra in Alubarna!!"

"What the heck is it?" The crowd questioned.

"It's green powder!"

"Uh… Um… We… We don't know!!" The worker stuttered, even more panicked now. "W-We're just acting on the King's orders… We're just transporting it…!! We're deliverymen!" He explained. "R-run for it!!" He screamed as he sprinted away.

"This is "Dance Powder"!!! An old man said.

"What..?!?"

**End of Flashback**

"It was dance powder?!?" Nami exclaimed.

"Yes." Vivi answered with a sullen expression.

"Hey!" Luffy said. "You know what that is?"

"It's also known as 'Powder That Calls Rain'." Nami started explaining.

"Powder that calls rain?" Luffy said, biting his lip.

"It was created by some country with no rain long ago." Nami continued.

"Right, right." He said nodding his head.

"The powder emits a mist-like smoke that rises up into the air. It speeds up the creation of ice particles in sub-freezing temperature clouds and causes rainfall. Basically, it's a powder that makes artificial rain.

"Ahaaa!" Luffy said happily. "So it's a 'Mystery Powder'."

"It makes rain." Zoro grumbled.

"Huh? So that would make it perfect for this place, right?" Usopp asked.

"Originally, yes. The people who created it called it Dance Powder because it made them dance with joy…. But, there was a large pitfall to all this." Nami prolonged the explanation. Vivi was looking solemnly, probably because she knew all about it.

"It caused droughts to countries downwind!! Do you understand?" She said. "'Artificial rain' is the process of nurturing clouds that aren't ready to rain yet. It suck the water out of the clouds…"

"I see!" Usopp continued. "It steals rain from that would mature over neighboring countries!"

"Yes…" Vivi sadly said. "It started a huge war. The loss of life was profound… Since then, the World Government has outlawed the manufacturing and possession of Dance Powder worldwide."

"A powder that brings happiness and misery at the same time…" Ace commented.

"A large shipment of Dance Powder appeared in Nanohana. Soon afterward, an abnormal weather pattern started, and no rain fell anywhere except where the King was!!" Vivi said.

"It's normal to distrust the King." I added. "They must have thought he was using the powder to steal all the rain…"

"DANG VIVI!" Luffy shouted with a surprised expression. "YOUR DAD IS EVIL!"

"HE WAS FRAMED YOU IDIOT!!" Sanji shouted, kicking Lufy on the head. "VIVI-CHAN'S FATHER WOULD NEVER DO SUCH A THING!!!"

"Now I realize that Crocodile's terrible plan was already in effect." Vivi sadly sighed, ignoring Luffy's comment. "My father was suddenly surrounded by a scandal he had nothing to do with… Somehow, a large quantity of Dance Powder had been brought into the palace under his nose." She kept on going whilst digging out a skull. "It was all a trap set up by Crocodile!" She shivered with the skull pressed to her forehead. "A rebellion arose… Just as he planned! Towns dried up, people starved and an army of furious rebels started a bloody battle with an innocent country!! The kingdoms peace… The trust in the royal family… The rain… The towns… And even people's lives… were all stolen. And it was done by one man… CROCODILE!" She screamed. "WHAT RIGHT DOES HE HAVE TO DO THOSE THINGS?!"

Everybody just looked as Vivi kept on going. I felt sad for her.

"I WILL NEVER…!!! EVER…LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THIS!!!" She screamed in tears. Suddenly a building crumbled. Ace and I were digging a hole for the skull.

"Tch… Stupid kids…" Zoro said.

Usopp, Sanji and Luffy walked from the distance. They obviously just broke down the building. Vivi bit her lip to stop crying as she gently put the skull inside the hole. We filled it and stood up.

"Hey Luffy, what was that for?!?" I exclaimed. He didn't have to go break a building.

"Let's move forward already." He said with his battle face. "I'm anxious now."

Quickly we continued into the desert. The sun was pounding down onto us, and almost everybody except for Ace, Vivi and me were having trouble with the heat. I made the air cool me, while Luffy was sadly shuffling along. With every step he moaned and leaned heavily on a stick he found.

"Aaaah…"

"Would you stop moaning already Luffy!?" Nami shouted, completely annoyed. "You're just wasting energy."

"Aaaah… I'm burning…" he said, ignoring her completely. Crazy kid. "Can't even sweat…

"I can't stand the heat… But I'm fine in the cold…" Chopper said. He was lying on his back and was being dragged by Zoro. Poor guy.

"It's cause you're all fuzzy. Why don't you take that costume off." Usopp commented.

"DON'T MESS WITH A REINDEER PUNK!!!" Chopper shouted, transforming into a super-size, hairy human.

"GYAAAAA!!! A MONSTER!!!"

"Don't get huge like that Chopper, or else I won't pull you!!!" Zoro angrily said.

"You don't seem to mind the heat Vivi-chan." Sanji commented.

"I grew up here, so I'm fine, more or less."  
"Why are there so many damn hills?" Luffy complained.

"It's like we're climbing mountains." Usopp noted.

"This is an ancient desert. The larger dunes are over three hundred meters tall." Vivi said.

"T-Three hundred meters…?!! No wonder it seems like a mountain." Usopp said with a haggard expression.

"Water…" Luffy moaned, his tongue hanging from his mouth.

"Only take enough to fill your mouth Lu." Ace said.

Immediately his rubbery cheeks started expanding. He looked like a human hamster.

"THAT"S TOO MUCH!!!" They shouted.

"GIVE IT TO ME! THAT WAS YOUR THIRTEENTH SWALLOW!" Usopp angrily shouted, hitting Luffy, which caused him to spew out all the water.

"NO WAIT, YOU JUST DRANK! IT'S MY TURN!" Sanji argued.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING?! YOU MADE ME SPIT IT OUT!!" Luffy angrily said.

"Don't fight. You guys are wasting your energy." I said.

Thankfully they took my advice and stopped.

"Hey Sanji!" Luffy said wagging his eyebrows. "Let's eat lunch!! Pirate lunchbox time!!"

"No. Not until Vivi-chan says it's okay!"

"Vivi let's eat!! I'm starving!"

"Luffy-san, we're not even a quarter of the way to Yuba yet." She explained.

"Jeez, you people are so dumb. Haven't you heard the old saying "Eat when thou art hungry"?

"You just made that up." Usopp said.

"I understand… Why don't we take a break when we reach the next rock? Vivi offered.

"Yosh!!! Next rock… Roooooock?! Aaah…" Luffy moaned. "Hey, why don't we play rock-paper-scissors and the loser has to carry all the luggage!!"

"Sure." I said. We all huddled.

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"

"Hey Luffy, you just cheated! You did it when you saw all ours!" Chopper complained.

"I win!!" Luffy cheered.

Five minutes later he was moaning again.

"So heavy…. Hot…."

"You lost at rock-paper-scissors, so shut up and pull." Ace said with a grin.

"Don't drop it Luffy!" I called as he was quite behind now.

"Aaaah…." He moaned in response.

"All right!!" Usopp happily shouted. "Rocks sighted dead ahead!"

"Really?!!" Luffy exclaimed. "Break time!!!"

That was the last thing we heard as he sprinted ahead.

**Ace's POV**

"Damn he's fast!" Usopp said in surprise as seconds before Luffy was barely dragging himself.

"Aahhh… Shade!! So nice!!!" Luffy was saying as we arrived. The luggage was strewn around him.

"So much for not dropping it…" Quinn commented.

Suddenly a huge purple lizard appeared from nowhere.

"Damn… That's a big lizard." I said.

"THAT'S A GREAT SANDORA LIZARD!" Vivi shrieked.

A camel was doing it's best to run away from it. Quinn and I chuckled.

"Gum gum…" Luffy started.

"Tatsu…" Zoro said as he unsheathed his swords

"Epaule.." Sanji said as he jumped up.

"MAKI!"

"WHIP!"

"SHOOT!" They said as they attacked together, defeating the lizard in an instant. It fell over on it's back and they started to come back.

"They didn't have to go that far…" Usopp commented in pity.

"The three of them together are stronger than a monster…" Nami said with a sympathetic look.

"Sanji, is this thing edible?" Luffy asked, pointing his thumb toward the lizard's corpse.

"Yeah, looks like it."

Quickly Zoro cut it up and Quinn let the pieces drift towards us.

"Whoa! Look at this!" Usopp said as the chunks of meat started sizzling on the rocks.

"These rocks are like nature's frying pans!" Chopper exclaimed.

"What up with the camel?" Zoro said as he was eating his fried lizard.

(A/N Fried lizard is sooo good… I love fried iguana, it's the best…)

"Dunno, he was running away from the lizard I guess." Luffy said.

"It's not a wild camel." Vivi said. "There's a saddle and everything strapped to it."

"We can ride it! That'll be so nice!" Usopp said excitedly.

"Yeah good thing. I bet two people can ride on it!" Chopper added.

"You really do need camels in the desert!" Sanji said.

"Okay, I'll go on first!" Luffy said whilst he was trying to climb onto the camel. The camel bit his head and started emitting weird noises.

"Oww! What?!" He said rubbing his head.

Chopper started translating. "I am just a passing camel. Thanks for rescuing me. I'll let you ride me but I won't let any guys ride." Chopper translated.

"YOU STUPID PIUNK, WHO'D YOU THINK JUST SAVED YOUR WORTHLESS LIFE??!!" Sanji, Usopp and Luffy all shouted whilst kicking the camel down.

"I'm sorry my bandits are so mean to you." Nami said scratching the camel under it's chin. "What a good boy. What should I call you?"

The camel had hearts in it's eyes and was having a heavy nosebleed. Nami isn't _that _hot.

"Idiot."

"Moron."

"Dumbass."

"Okay, how about Eyelashes?" She said as she had climbed on.

"That the weirdest name you could give it." Zoro said as he sweatdropped.

"Get on Vivi or Quinn!"

"I'm fine, I can still walk." Vivi said, rejecting the offer.

"If I get too tired I'll switch to flying." Quinn said.

"YOU CAN FLY?!?" Luffy, Usopp and Chopper shouted in amazement,

"I'm wind. Duh I can fly." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Pervert-camel!" Luffy said as Vivi and Nami were starting to ride.

"Ero-camel."

"Now we can get to Yuba a little faster." Nami said with a smile.

Then suddenly another Sandora lizard appeared just behind me.

"OH MY GOD! Vivi exclaimed. "I FORGOT TO TELL! SANDORA LIZARDS ALWAYS HUNT IN PAIRS!"

"Tell us that kind of shit." Quinn said.

I turned around and jumped right into it's mouth, avoiding it's razor-sharp teeth. The last thing I hear was the crews gasps, and just a few seconds later I jumped out, having roasted it from the inside.

"He killed it like it was an ant…" Usopp said in awe.

"The elder brother of a monster will be an even bigger monster… How strong is Quinn going to be?!" Nami commented.

Quinn was grinning at the scene.

"Nice one Freckles." She said when I passed her. She barely used the nickname.

"Hurry up!" Nami happily shouted. She, Vivi and… Eyelashes were already far ahead of us. At a lightning speed the rest of the crew ran to catch up a bit while Quinn and I were still standing.

"Well, let's go." I said, sticking my thumbs in my pockets.

Slowly we walked, as we weren't in a real hurry. In a comfortable silence we continued, until a slight sandstorm erased the trail.

"Couldn't you stop it?" I grumbled after getting nowhere.

"Probably."

"Than why didn't you do so?"

"I wasn't paying attention."

"Great. Now we lost them." I said with a sigh.

"I can fly overhead and spot them." Quinn offered.

"I can fly myself." I bit back.

In a second you could see the slight air currents under her feet, whirling at a fast speed. Quickly I propelled myself upwards. Her element was better for this than mine, and she was much higher than me.

"I can't see them. A bigger sand-storm is whirling in what I'm guessing is their general direction!" Quinn shouted.

"Fly that way then so we can wait until the storm stops!" I shouted back.

Immediately she flew that way, much faster than me. Grumbling I did my best to catch up, as we both flew directly into the storm.

The hurling winds stopped, and we could make out the top of Usopp's nose. Some wind moved all the sand away and quickly our crewmembers were excavated.

"Aah!" Luffy happily said. "Told you they'd be alright!"

"How did you get her so fast?" Usopp said, coughing up some sand.

"Flying." I answered.

"Well, we're going to have to set up camp again." Nami said. "It's almost nightfall. Quinn dusted off the rest of the stuff, and soon the camp was standing again.

"Your ability's really helpful." Zoro remarked.

Quinn just smiled at him as she lounged on the sand.

"The sunset's starting." She told nobody in particular.

I sat down next to her, not looking at the sunset at all but at how she matured. She was still so different. She always had a childish air like Luffy, fighting for the biggest steak and sitting in a corner pouting if Luffy got it. She couldn't control her temper in the least, but she always laughed after it.

Now she can stop up her emotions until a better time, and she didn't mind when I got a bigger piece of lizard than her. But also physically… Her upper body finally started matching her legs. She's developed a lot of muscles, and of course, boobs. They're still small compared to Nami, but I bet they'll fill my hand nicely...

Wait, what was that? They'll fill my hand nicely? Jesus, what the fuck? Quinn? I mean, I'm definitely not innocent, but having a fuckfest with Quinn? Holy shit, that's just plain wrong.

"You've been staring at me for a while now." She suddenly said. Her acid-green cat eyes reflected some of the light of the fire, giving her an eerie appearance. Dark then fell, and all I could see were the flames reflected on her eyes.

"You've changed." I plainly said, not in the mood for lying.

"In a good way?" She playfully asked.

"I guess…" I muttered.

I saw her shiver, and without thinking I put my arm around her. In response she leaned against me and closed her eyes.

"You've always been warm…" Quinn murmured as she snuggled into my shoulder and moved herself around so she was more comfortable. Soon her arms were around my neck and she was lying almost completely on top of me. I got a creepy sense of déjà-vu, when I suddenly remembered the first night Quinn had slept with us back in Fuchsia.

Oh crap… Looks like I'll be doing some exercise tomorrow morning. Suddenly I noticed Sanji blushing and the smoke coming from his cigarettes being heart-shaped. His nose was bleeding and he was doing some kind of weird dance. Like he was some crazy person with broccoli for hair I stared at him. Then I saw Zoro, and I inwardly started laughing. His hair does sort of resemble broccoli, but moss is a better way to describe it.

Then Quinn's arms tightened around my neck and I smirked at Sanji. When he noticed how close she was, his… pervertism turned into anger. Or jealousy. Whatever, both were pretty satisfying to watch. That ero-curly-eyebrow Cyclops so wasn't going to hit on Quinn. He probably undressed her with his eye as soon as he saw her.

Just to scare him a bit, I turned my finger into a flame and pushed up my hat, eerily lighting up my face. I saw Zoro crack a smile and Sanji again choosing to stop doing whatever he was trying to do with Quinn. Mission accomplished.

**Author: I just noticed pervertism isn't a word. It should be. It's quite useful for me. And you guys barely reviewed, by Tuesday I had all but two reviews. People who read a story but don't review are kind of annoying for an author. I don't know what you guys think of it… Just 'I like it' is good. Pff…. Just review please?**


	4. Lost Again

**Author: I'm so happy, I got lots of reviews :D Thank you, I love hearing the comments! So, I put in some lovey-dovey moments **

** Quinn's POV**

I woke up the next morning, covered in Ace's long tunic in the tent next to Ace. His sleeping face was turned my way, and his slightly wavy black hair fell a bit in his face. The freckles that decorated his face now made him look like an oversized child, innocent and naïve. Even though Ace was neither I'm sure.

In the three years he must have slept with _someone_. I didn't, but that's out of the points. Ace does look good, and I'm surely not the only one who thinks so. Or he could have ruined all his chances by randomly falling asleep. I giggled and Ace stirred. He now lay flat on his back, his arms sprawled all around him. To add to his attractive image, he started snoring loudly and a bubble formed out of his nose.

I slid off my clothes and started changing. These clothes were now pretty sweaty. Rummaging through my backpack, I finally found some clean clothes. Not my most attractive, but I was going to wear a cloak anyway. Then I hear Ace yawn.

I stepped into the panties ignoring him. He'd seen me naked before, it's kind of hard to avoid with a broken lock on the bathroom door.

"White's for virgins…" He muttered teasingly.

"Who says I'm not one?" I replied.

"You always wear a bra."

"And wearing a bra makes me a virgin? Great reasoning there sleepyhead."

"It does." He yawned.

"Then I'll not wear one today." I told him.

"So you aren't a virgin." Ace said. I'm sure he was grinning.

"You won't know until the day we sleep. Which will be, never." I bit back.

I pulled on the last shirt I had and turned around and faced him.

"I wouldn't wear that shirt if I wear you. You can see everything." Ace smirked.

"Watch me." I said narrowing my eyes. When I turned my back to him I checked if you really could see everything. Crap. I'm going to make poor Sanji go haywire. I put on a navy bubble skirt and stepped into Ace's boots. "I'm wearing your boots today."

"Your boots are girly, give them back."

After I smelled the aroma they were emitting, I threw them at his head.

"Ew, what the hell is wrong with your feet?" I shouted.

He sat up as soon as the boot hit his face. After smelling it, he fell back down.

I walked over to him and parked my butt on him and started putting on my boots. He was about the only comfy seat and I wasn't about to go get sand all up my butt when a shower wasn't near in sight.

"Don't sit on me! I ain't no seat!"

"Until I stand up, you are."

"Bitch…"

"I ain't your female dog, if that's what you mean."

I stood up and threw my mattress on him. Stupid idiot. Angrily I walked out of the tent. He's so freaking annoying. I can see why he didn't find a temporary crew.

"Quinn-chwan, you look so pretty today!" Sanji said, completely love struck as one of my sleeves had slid off of my shoulder. Nonchalantly, trying to hide my embarrassment, I slid it back up, and I could see Zoro's face. It was twisted up in confusion, as there wasn't a telltale bra strap. Then it dawned upon him and he looked away. I think I spotted a slight blush. Stupid freckled asshole.

"I forgot my backpack!" I said, and quickly I went back inside. To make it even worse, Ace had just dropped his boxers. How many times was I gonna storm in just as he was completely naked? Just as quickly as I came in, I turned around 180 degrees and walked away with a huge blush on my face.

**Ace's POV**

How many fucking times is Quinn going to see me just as I drop my underwear? That girl has some knack for doing it. It was kinda funny to see her blush so badly after seeing me. It's not like I didn't change. But it shouldn't scare her since she's probably no virgin. That thought made me want to beat up the guy who did it with her.

I can't help but get images of Quinn stark naked on a bed, with her long black hair spread out and some guy hovering above her. For some reason he looked like Sanji. A new hate formed, and I surprised myself. I never had this reaction when I saw her kiss another guy.

Maybe that's 'cause I had her first kiss, but still. Quinn is a damn good kisser. Is she even better now? Wait, what? Did I just imagine me kissing Quinn? It's down a step from yesterday, but… ew. That's just wrong. She's a friend, nearly a sister you know. She can go fuck Sanji, Zoro and Usopp if that's what she wants.

I clasped my belt closed and walked outside with Quinn's backpack and robe. How I would like to see her in only that robe. There goes my perverse mind again! Thank God Quinn didn't eat a mindreading Devil's Fruit. Oh the things she would see. When our eyes met, I saw her blush and look away. Clearing my throat, I handed her stuff over.

Most of the crew seemed to pretend they didn't know what she just saw, but I'm sure they were aware of it. Except for Luffy, but that thick-skulled idiot doesn't count. Quickly Quinn put the robe on, and you could clearly see the outline of her… Freakin' pervert I am. With my hands in my pockets I walked along, waist-deep in thought.

Quinn's hair was braided completely and were probably slathered in oil too as the braids are really shiny. It looks cool with her. She blends in with the desert folk here. The slight breeze she was producing caused her hair to wave slightly backwards, but not a lot since it was most likely pretty heavy.

Me and Quinn hung back from the group, which as usual, were chatting animatedly.

"Sorry 'bout that." Quinn muttered.

"You were surprised weren't you? You're not the only one who has developed a bit eh?" I tauntingly said, trying to cheer her up a bit.

"I've seen much bigger." She answered, narrowing her eyes.

"So you aren't a virgin then are you?"

"As I said before, you won't find out until the day we sleep together."

"We have slept together before." I smartly replied, my sole purpose now to annoy the hell outta her.

"I meant as in having intercourse. S-E-X. Sex." She loudly enunciated, getting annoyed. The crew immediately looked at us, hearing the word sex being nearly shouted. Luffy blissfully sauntered along, totally ignoring everything.

"Jeez, what's so interesting about the word sex? SEX, SEX, SEX!" Quinn shouted in exasperation. Sanji was having a heavy nosebleed, caused by the images going unseen through his mind. Somebody should make a medicine against it. I would have to take it too, probably. But I wasn't as bad as him. I hope.

"You people are like little eight year olds." She huffed. Her arms were crossed and she was pouting. She looked like an eight year old. I wrapped my arms around her.

"You do realize, that right now, you look exactly like a eight year old?" I whispered in her ear.

"I do not." She hissed.

"Suit yourself. I think I'm staying here. You have a pretty nice breeze going on." I said, closing my eyes and enjoying the wind.

Suddenly Quinn went through her knees, causing me to fall in the burning hot sand.

"Jeez, what was that for?" I angrily said trying to get all the sand out of my hair. Her answer was a small sand storm raging exclusively around me. When I got up, the storm followed me exactly.

"Asshole." I heard her say.

"Bitch." I muttered under my breath.

Without much energy I kept on walking. I had no idea where the hell I was going until I walked against what I hoped was Quinn. It was her, as my private sandstorm stopped.

"Where the hell are they?" She said as she scratched her head. She looked just like Luffy.

"Did you pay attention to where they were going and you were going?"

"Ehm… I forgot. I was busy keeping your sandstorm raging." She answered apologetically.

"Shit. And their tracks are gone too."

"Maybe we should actually, you know, join the group when were walking?"

"I think that would help."

"So, fly up again?" I asked.

"If you want to get the nastiest sunburn in your life, go ahead. Your Logia from, if I'm correct, will not fly by itself."

"So… We do what?"

"We fly at night to the nearest city and then go to Yuba from there. Or else we go there wherever the palace is 'cause the palace is where Vivi is going to return to right?"

"OK, so what do we do now?"

"Sleep." Quinn answered. She threw her backpack on the sand, lay down on it and started sleeping. Quinn had always had a great talent for falling asleep at will. With a sigh I did the same, and pulled my hat over my face and started sleeping too.


	5. A Tattletale Appears

**Author: Today I had so much fun as we were doing a pirate re-enactment on the island! And I was allowed to be one of the pirates! We were all on a galleon in costume with real swords and pistols and cannons (even though they didn't have real bullets or cannonballs) I dressed myself up like Nami when she was first shown in the anime, and I took Luffy scar under my left eye! I got tons of compliments and all the tourists took pictures of me! We were plundering a waterfront city, Punda, and even the Navy were doing it with us and it was so much fun! It such an honor that I was asked, since usually it's only adults! Okay, so now the newest chapter! Prepare for LOOOOOOVE 3**

**Quinn's POV**

I woke up, and all the sand had stuck in my hair. On the previous island I let a women traditionally braid my hair, and it was really oily now. I liked it though, so maybe I would do it on my own once. It's handy to fight with, as all your hair doesn't hang in your face. After stretching I started undoing the braids. My usually stick-straight hair was now wavy. Washing it would come later, for now I looked pretty okay.

I searched through my bag for two pieces of cloth. Then I twisted all my hair up into two buns at the sides of my head and tied them. Even though I had no idea how well this hairstyle was accomplished, it would look better than having sand all up in the braids. Lying next to me was a piece of charcoal that had fallen from my bag.

With an evil grin I picked it up and walked over to Ace. On his face I started drawing a big bushy mustache and a weird little beard. His eyes had a raccoon-like quality with big round circles around them, and he now had a unibrow. I proceeded then to give him some nice chest hair and a tattoo saying "Mom" and one saying "Ms. Olive". Then I quickly went back to sleep.

I woke up when Ace had noticed his new hair growth on his torso.

"WHAT THE HELL…?"

Ace's face was so funny I burst out in laughing. Tears were coming from my eyes as I was rolling around in the desert sand.

"Quinn…" Ace said with an evil grin. He dove on me and pinned my arms above my head. Seeing his just ridiculous face I just had to laugh even more. My abdominal muscles were hurting and Ace was looking at me with a puzzled expression..

"Did you get your hands on my face?" He hissed.

As an answer I just kept on laughing more.

"What the hell did you draw?"

I managed to bring out one sentence. "Check… my mirror… in my bag…"

Ace let go of my hands and I continued laughing at how bizarre he looked. He threw out everything that was in my bag before he finally found my mirror. Then he had a puzzled expression and also burst out in laughing.

"You draw even worse than Luffy!" Ace said with tears in his eyes. Together we laughed for another five minutes.

"So, how am I going to be able to get it off?"

"You have to wait until we find some village since we have no water to spare." I told him as I rubbed my tears away.

"You're fucking kidding me right?"

"Nope." I said with one of the biggest grins in my life.

He turned into his Logia form and came back. There wasn't any difference. Ace then spotted my favorite dress and used it to rub his face. First, though, he wetted it with _my _water. Then he started rubbing furiously. The only thing he accomplished was now his face was now one big black blob.

"You looked better before." I commented.

"Borrow me a shirt." He growled.

"Do realize they are made to fit a woman. Even though you do have boobs, it will look ridiculous."

"I don't have boobs. It's muscle."

I poked it. "Feels pretty soft to me."

In response, Ace just took the first shirt he saw, one with a deep V-neck.

"You look like an okama now." I commented.

"That's because you feel the need to show as much skin as you can now."

"This outfit isn't revealing." I exclaimed.

"Yeah, but it's see-through as hell. It's disturbing actually." Ace grumbled.

"So that's why you're staring all the time. Because it's _disturbing_. Hand me a bra."

Hesitatingly he picked up one and threw it over. I turned myself around and took off my shirt.

"You don't have any shame anymore do you?" He muttered

"I'm turned around aren't I?"

He didn't answer. I put the shirt back on and looked at him.

"We should go. The sun isn't so bright anymore."

"Go North?" I asked as I floated upward.

Not waiting for his answer, I already went ahead. But I did slow down so he could sort of keep me in sight. After around an hour I spotted a big city. A golden pyramid was standing far above everything else.

"You think this is Yuba?" Ace asked me as we landed.

"Only one way to find out." I replied. Quickly I tapped somebody on the shoulder. "Excuse me, where are we?"

"You're in Rainbase cutie!" An ugly man replied with a wink. "Want to have some fun?"

He was obviously drunk, as he was staggering.

"She's out of your league. Keep your hands off." Ace said. His arm was around my shoulder, and he was glaring at the man. The poor guy immediately went off to bother somebody else. I wouldn't be surprised if he peed in his pants since Ace's look was quite frightening.

"Whoa, where did that come from?" I asked him with a chuckle. Then I noticed most people were laughing at how Ace looked. He tightened the cloak around him and made sure the shadow from his hat covered his face. "We need to meet up with Luffy again. Do you think we'll make Yuba?"

"Why don't we go straight to where the palace is. In Alubarna right?"

"That's what Vivi said right?"

"Let's ask directions then."

I tapped another random person on the shoulder. "Excuse me, but in which direction is the royal palace? We're honeymooners you see, and we lost our tour, and I just wanna see that just beautiful palace!"

The young girl smiled. "Alubarna is directly across from here. Just go across the Sandora River and then keep on going East."

"Thank you so much!" I told her with a huge smile as I dragged Ace away.

"What the hell is with that cover story?"

"People will recognize our faces. The other guy luckily was drunk, but she was sober. I don't want to get that Marine on our trail again."

"He wasn't that annoying." Ace pointed out. Crap. I did not want to meet that friggin' Marine again! Ace didn't know yet about what happened before I became a pirate. And I have no intention of letting him find out.

**Ace's POV**

So worried about one Marine. She's pretty strong, so what's her problem? She defeated him almost effortlessly.

"Let's go Ace!" Quinn whined. Impatient as ever.

"Yeah yeah. Can't we make a stop by a bathhouse?" I replied. I looked ridiculous. But I didn't stop her when she did it. The light touch of her fingers and the slight tickling of her hair was worth it. I just pretended to be asleep, but still, I didn't think it would be this hard to get off!

"You can go wash yourself in the river. Let's just go!" She said, tugging my arm in the direction she wanted to go.

I let myself be dragged by her, and soon we reached the shopping part of the city. Suddenly she stopped in front of a fancy clothing store. On display was a green silk gown. The bodice had an intricate design of woven gold and small pearls. Then the skirt flew out and stopped at the knee. I looked at the price tag: 100,000 Berries.

"You like this dress Quinn?" I asked her.

"Yeah…" She sighed. "But it's much too expensive. And where would I wear a pretty gown like that anyway? Let's keep walking."

"I can pay for it. Go try it on." That was a lie. I think I have around 100,000 berries left if I didn't spend it already. But I had small gem with me too that I found.

"Really?" Quinn happily asked. Her eyes lit up and she happily walked into the store.

"Welcome Madame and monsieur. How may I be of service?" A man in a black suit with the curliest moustache I had ever seen said.

"I would like to try on the green gown you have in the display."

He looked at both of us, not sure if we could even pay for the socks he sold. I glared at him, and discreetly showed him some of my money.

"You have great taste Madame." He just said, leaving it at that.

He went into the display and carefully slid it off of the mannequin.

"It is a pure silk gown, and the bodice consists of whale bone, eighteen karat woven gold and the best freshwater pearls from West Blue. Also, it has been designed and hand-sewn by Louie François himself. There is no gown that looks like it, as it is the only one made." He told us. "I shall help you put it on in the dressing room."

Again I glared at the guy. No way he was going to help her change into the gown.

"Can't she put it on herself?" I grumbled.

"Ace, don't be so pissy. He sees women all the time, I'm nothing new." She told me. The guy triumphantly looked at me and then followed her into the dressing room. I took the chance to start counting the money I had. Soon I found out I had 150,000 berries.

Then the curtain was pushed away to reveal Quinn. The gown looked stunning on her. It looked as if it was made for her. A light green see-through shawl covered her shoulders.

"I-it… looks good." I managed to get out. Good wasn't the word to describe it. She looked like a princess.

"The shawl comes with the dress, but perhaps you would like to purchase some matching lingerie for seventy percent off?"

"Sure!" Quinn said happily.

What. The. Hell. When is she going to use the frikkin' underwear? I know now for sure. She is not a virgin. No virgin would buy fancy stuff just for fun. Fun. I shouldn't have used that word. The man disappeared into the back of the store and procured some lacy black material that could resemble underwear.

"And madame?" He asked expectantly.

"May I please take a look in the back as soon as I change out of the dress?" Quinn asked politely.

"We'll be taking the dress." I muttered.

"Very well monsieur. And yes, let me prepare some sets for you." He answered. The moustache was disturbing me. It moved when he spoke, but the shape never changed.

"Would you like to try something?" Quinn asked me from inside the dressing room.

"Uh no." I said loud enough for her to hear.

Soon she slipped out and both disappeared in the back. In the meantime, I started sorting my bills and trying to not make the bills look so crinkly. As soon as I finished that, they both came back with a set. The salesman started intricately packaging the dress and whatever kind of underwear Quinn chose.

"That will be 124,650 berries please."

I produced a neat stack of exactly 125,00 berries. Thank God I had enough to pay for both things. Quinn would kill me if we couldn't pay for both. Why did she have to buy the… extra stuff. I can't bring myself to think it, never mind to say it! Sometimes I really wonder what's going on in that mind of hers.

Women are hard to figure out, as Sabo had told me when we were ten. But I could still make out what they were implying with things they did. Quinn is impossible. Everything she does contradicts herself and I'm just trying to catch up with her latest action when bam, again she surprised the heck out of me.

"Thank you very much. Monsieur, madame, you make a good couple!" He added as we left the store. Quinn giggled.

"You act like such an overprotective older brother. It's easy to get the idea we're dating." She casually told me as she happily walked in front of me. Her face was turned towards me, and she was walking backwards.

"I don't. I just don't let perverted guys get their hands all over you." I muttered.

"Just admit it Acie!" She singsonged.

"Don't call me Acie. My name is Ace." I angrily responded.

"Acie is an overprotective brother, he is such a bother!" Quinn sang in her pretty voice. Always she stole the show at parties with her voice. But never did she hog the spotlight. Soon she would return to where I was standing, observing the party and making sure Luffy wasn't getting in too much trouble.

"Eh, oh! Let's go!" She said as she took off.

Quickly I followed her and soon we reached the riverbank. Gracefully she landed. The river was more or less divided into two by a big boulder. Quinn disappeared behind the other side. I started prying off the ridiculous shirt, which was now almost completely black, as all the charcoal had started rubbing against it.

With a clunk my belt fell off and slowly I waded into the water. I took a handful of sand and started rubbing the charcoal away. In around five minutes I was done, and I more or less dried myself with some flames I kindled in my hand. Closing my belt, just as I was starting to dry my hair, I heard Quinn shout and then a gun fire. Immediately I ran over, forgetting my precious hat.

A Marine had a thankfully clothed Quinn handcuffed. A bullet had pierced her in her shoulder, and it was bleeding terribly.

"So Quinn… Please tell me again why you just left me in Roguetown."

"Takes those cuffs and step back before I burn you to ash." I growled.

"Oh, here's Mr. Tough Guy. You have no idea what this little bitch did. And let me tell you already, its not too nice."

"Quinn, do you know him?" I asked, trying to constrain the anger in my voice. She nodded. "Do you care if I kill him?" She shook her head.

"You owe me. Who saved you from those drunk guys? ME! I can tell him all of it right now. And you can't stop me!" He maniacally said.

"Tell me. I bet you it won't surprise me." I told him. Probably she dumped the guy and now he was all crazy about her. I mean, he even shot her! Quinn struggled against his iron grip but she could barely budge him. Then suddenly she got loose and she fell over in front of me.

"Ace..help.." She whispered barely audible.

"I'll tell him everything you dirty whore! You'll see! And then the only person who'll still love you will be me! But I won't take you then!"

"Tell me what she did that was oh so horrible." I ordered.

"I'll start now!" He coughed, laughing hysterically.

**Author: Hehe. Quinn isn't too perfect either. Just as things were going to right way, will they be changed? I don't know myself yet! xD**

**Please review! If you read it, just put a comment like, nice. I really don't care what, as long as it is a review. I work hard on my chapters, and I really want to know what you think…~**


	6. The Shocking Truth

**Author: Wow... I downloaded the OpenOffice program and I have to say it's really good for a free program. I'm so proud of this story too as it is now five chapters and it's not near finishing yet! Even though I'm not getting too many reviews or people putting it on their alert list, I'm still really happy with this story! Maybe all the reviews will come later... I hope that every person who reads my story reviews it just so I can know what you think. Seriously. I mean it. By the way, I'm looking for a beta. If anybody is interested, please let me know!**

**Ace's POV**

"In Roguetown, I met her at night. These two drunk men were raping her. She was resisting heavily when one of them put a knife to her neck. Immediately she went rigid and stopped moving. Her legs were fervently clamped together. I took out my gun and arrested them as I was a Marine. She was taken with me to the jailhouse where we tried to know where she was staying.

"I don't have an inn booked or anything. I just arrived today." She said emotionlessly.

"Would you like to book one? We could do it for you?" I offered back at her.

"I don't have the money to pay for it. I guess I'll sleep on my ship." She answered, standing up and getting ready to walk away.

"You could stay with me for a night. I have a guest room you could stay in." I quickly said.

To this day I still don't know why I asked her that. Was it because of her beauty or because of the way how she wasn't sobbing crazily and just walking right back in the world. I myself have seen tons of victims of rape, and not one of them carried themselves as proud as she was doing. Every one broke out into sobs at some time, even if the deed itself hadn't come close to being completed.

"I would be a burden. It's okay." She told me with a sad smile.

"I'm afraid the docks aren't too safe. Just one night okay miss?"

She hesitated. "Okay. I'm Quinn."

Oh how happy I was. I blamed it on the fact that I had ensured her safety. Quietly we walked home and I prepared the room for her. The next morning, she had prepared breakfast, and it was as if she had always lived her. As if she was my wife. Then I realized I had fallen in love with her.

I convinced her again to not leave, and soon she was staying at my home for the rest of the year. It was easy, she wasn't one who complained and she even helped me with keeping my home clean. Then suddenly, one day, she had all her stuff packed up and was just about to step out of the house.

"Quinn! Are you leaving?" I shouted to her.

"Yes Cabel. I've been staying much too long in your care. I have to meet up with my family."

"Please! I know it's selfish... But Quinn! I love you! I love the way you slightly grin before you burst out in laughing! The way you look when you're sailing! The way you smile when you talk about Luffy's antics and Ace's narcoleptic fits! Please, just stay for the rest of the month!" I shouted, sadly saying the last part.

Quinn stopped dead in her tracks and looked at me. The surprise was evident in her eyes.

"You... love...me." She finally managed to say.

"Yes... Since the day I saw you making breakfast in my kitchen as if you had lived here with me for all your life!" I confessed.

"I'll stay. But just for this month." Quinn whispered.

You walked back in and I started courting you. All I wanted was for you to marry me. Never before had I felt this strongly for any person. Then, just as you were going to leave, I kissed you. To my surprise you kissed me back. Then our relationship started. Happily the weeks were flying by, and then we were just about to get married."

"This doesn't give you any reason to be mad at Quinn!" I interjected, tired of hearing their blooming love. Quinn. Married. A stay-at-home wife.

"The bad part is going to come jackass!" He screamed. "So we were just about to get married. On our actual _wedding day_," He said with so much venom he could have killed Quinn at the spot. "SHE RAN OUT ON ME! SHE LEFT ME ALONE WITH MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY! ALL OF US WERE WONDERING WHERE THE HAPPY BRIDE WAS!" He screamed. "Then it occurred to me. I ran to the docks, and there you were, already leaving the port. You looked so beautiful, with your white dress flying around wildly and your black hair framing your face. I saw your face. You were crying.

"I can't do this Cabe! I don't think... you are the one I truly love! I would make the worst wife! You know why I didn't give you my virginity? Its because I didn't want you to have it! How can I marry you when I thought that. And I ate the Devil Fruit that had so mysteriously disappeared! I still want to be a pirate! I can't stay here forever! I can't! I will live and die at sea!" You shouted. The tears were running and I didn't doubt it that you were speaking the truth.

But what did I do wrong? You had sailed away without giving me a chance to say anything! I had to face all the embarrassment of my own bride running out on me! Soon, only two days afterwards the first bounty poster appeared. You looked fine, all happy and with your alluring smile you were looking directly in the camera. Those green eyes I knew so well were twinkling not as we were sailing, but as you were enjoying life as a pirate!

You knew my hometown had been destroyed by pirates, nearly making us broke for life. There my family disowned me for almost marrying a pirate. I was a fool everybody said, for thinking she would have married me. I was nearly fired! So I had been tracking you down, and finally I found you. I will take your life away as you have taken mine away!

My life has no meaning without you loving me! So as soon as you lie dead at my feet, I will end my life too!" He maniacally said.

What did he think when he knew she wanted to become a pirate? No pirate ever settles down. He was a fool. But who did Quinn then love? How did she know this Cabel wasn't her true love if she didn't love somebody else? And why didn't she tell me? We had lots of opportunity. But she betrayed me and Luffy. She stayed for nearly a year with that guy, and she lied about how she got her ability. Or maybe not, but she left out essential stuff. And that makes me feel the same. Lied to and betrayed. Not trustworthy enough to know this fact.

"I don't care about what she did. I would have done the same. Leave us alone before I fry you to a crisp." I told him without a trace of emotion on my face.

He aimed his gun. Quinn stood up straight and faced him.

"I'm sorry. But what did you want me to do? Marry somebody out of sympathy for their feelings? You deserve better than that Cabe. I'm a pirate. I was a pirate at heart long before we met. You couldn't have changed that. I should have left the first time. But I didn't. I'm sorry. If you still hate me, shoot me." She said with a straight face.

"I will always hate you. See you in hell." He told her with a sly grin. She would die, as she still had the sea stone cuffs. He pulled the trigger and I stood in front of her. I took the bullet, as I could take it. It buried itself in my abdomen, on the left side. My world flared up in pain, as I hadn't even been punched for a long time. I didn't show anything.

"You asshole! Are you the one she loves!" He screamed, pointing his finger at me. "YOU TOOK AWAY MY QUINN!"

He started charging towards her, and I fried him to an ash.

Quinn then walked towards me with surprise on her eyes.

"You took the bullet for me..." She said with a surprised look.

"You'll hate me for killing him.. I couldn't let him kill you first." I said, trying to not show my shortness of breath.

"You're bleeding!" She then screamed.

"So are you..." I said with an attempt at a laugh. Damn, this hurt. Did it hit something vital?

She took the blouse she was wearing and ripped it in pieces. Quickly she tied her shoulder, and the she searched for the key in the sand. After two minutes she found it and unlocked the cuffs.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"I'm getting ready to operate you." She stated. "I'll come later. You're not that used to the pain are you?" From her bag she took a medical kit and a bar of soap. Swiftly she washed her hands and then came back over to me.

"Lie on your back. Keep very still. It's going to hurt a _lot._ More than it does right now." Quinn warned me.

I prepared myself, clenching my teeth.

Then I felt a foreign object in my flesh. The metal burned and I shouted. Never before had I been shot. Quinn held up a small bullet in the air, the tweezers and the bullet both bloody.

"Here it is." Gingerly she laid it down.

Then she produced a needle with some black thread.

"Do me a favor, and create a flame." She asked me.

I held up a shaking finger, and a small fire was now burning. Quinn held the needle in it for a few seconds and then she started stitching me up. Against my instinct, I looked at my abdomen. With every time the needle went in, I shouted again and again.

"Fuck...Shit... NASTY!" I cursed.

"Sorry..." She mumbled. "Well, you have six stitches. Be proud, not many people get treated without anesthetic." Quinn tried to cheer me up. Her fingers were bloody, but she looked happy. Quickly she bound it and I sat up.

"So what about you?" I asked her.

"Hand me the mirror." Quinn ordered. I handed it to her.

She positioned it correctly, and then she took the bullet out without so much as a sound.

"Here I was, shouting like a six-year old and you barely make a peep." I commented with shame.

"I got shot several times before. I haven't fully mastered my ability yet." She confessed.

"Have you always had to treat yourself?"

"Yep. I kept all the bullets too. You want to keep yours?"

"That's weird." I said. "But cool. You save it for me okay?"

"Okay." She said beaming a huge smile. "I can barely feel this shoulder. Chopper should look at it. You too. I'm no professional doctor. It could get infected and ugly." Quinn warned me. "This should allow us to travel a bit."

"Well, let's get to the palace. Let's not waste too much time here."

"Let me pack up!" She shouted from the riverbank. Quickly she checked her dress -which was thank god, unscathed – and soon she was finished.

"I'll tell you more about me and Cabel if you want. I have nothing to hide."

Trying to get rid of the serious theme, I asked her. "So you are still a virgin then Quinn." I smirked.

"Can't you let it go? Yes I am a virgin! Now shut up!" She angrily barked, and soon she was up in the air.

Quinn's POV

Asshole. Just after I treated him. I don't enjoy digging out bullets, but it has to be done. He better be grateful. Inside I wasn't sad about Cabel dying. I deluded myself into loving him. I felt bad for not liking him, and I played along, until I actually fooled myself. Nearly I married him. I looked back at the pile of ash, which was all that remained of Cabel.

Did I love Ace? No. He's a brother. A sexy one at that, but no.

"Crap! I forgot my hat!" Ace cursed.

"Go get it. I'll wait here."

His black hair was still a bit wet. He was handsome. I realize that, but still, I wouldn't date him. A brother, I told myself. Soon Ace had returned with his hat, and we flew on in a comfortable silence for the rest of the trip.

Author: The chapters are getting shorter, sorry about that. I'm running short of time, and I don't want the chapters to drag on and on. Again, review, and I'm looking for a beta.

Thanks!


	7. Fin

**Quinn's POV**

On one of the Sandoran riverbanks we got ready to sleep for the night. Both of us didn't bring a tent, so we were just going to sleep on the sand.

"So tell me about Cabel." Ace said looking into the fire. He felt betrayed. It was written all over his face. Sadly I looked at him.

"He saved me from those two thugs. I was scared when they were raping me. Really scared. Then he came, our supposed enemy a Marine. I stayed at his house, and he was very easy to live with. He didn't try to force me into any relationship. I was going to leave and then he confessed. I was so surprised to hear him say that. Staying for his feelings only I was soon already making plans to leave again when the moment was right. Then he kissed me, and I don't know why he kissed me back. And yeah, happy couple and all, but then on the day I was going to marry him, I suddenly realized I didn't love him. My love for you and Luffy couldn't be compared to his. So quickly I ran away and left. I was sad because I ended up hurting him so bad he turned bitter.

Cabel used to be a really gentle person; he would treat the younger victims of various crimes and was quite popular. I admired him for that, to be able to fight gently with feelings. Not with guns. I mistaked admiration for love. When he shot me, all good things I remember left my mind. Cabel would never shoot a person just because he hates them so much. That surprised me. He was ready to kill me, when he had never hurt a fly before. I learned a lot from him though.

One night we were almost going to sleep with each other, but I started crying. My mind screamed to not sleep with him. That's when really I was beginning to doubt my feelings. But Cabel of course didn't mind and let me do what I wanted to do. He -"

"You can stop." Ace abruptly said. His face was hard to read.

"I'm sorry..." I whispered.

"What are you apologizing for? I just don't like hearing about you with other men." He lied.

"You're the person I love most Ace. If you would die, I don't know what I'd do." I confessed. His eyes widened.

"I'm an useless piece of thrash. Nobody would miss me."

"I would Ace! Imagine Luffy, his big brother gone! If you died..." I said, tears running down my cheeks. "I would kill the bastard that did it, and then I would probably kill myself too! I would be a horrible person if I never got to know you!" I hugged him. "I love you Ace..." I murmured into his chest.

"What am I to you?" He asked.

"I told you. The person I love most. You're the strong rock I hold onto when I'm drowning."

"Am I a brother or a friend?"

I was speechless. I don't think of Ace as a brother, but a friend?

"The best friend I've ever had." I then said.

Ace seemed content with this answer. He was looking up at the moon.

"What are you thinking of right now?"

"About how most of the world would love to kill me."

"Why would they do that?" I asked him.

"I'm the son of Gol. D. Roger." He bluntly told me.

"So? I don't care about your father. I care about you. Your dad could be the person that killed my parents and I wouldn't care. Your _my_ Ace."

He then lifted me up, carrying me, and he kissed me. It was sweet and hesitatingly I kissed him back. When his tongue slowly traced my upper lip, I pulled away, even though the thing I wanted to do most was kiss him back for the rest of the night.

"Ace...?" I whispered.

His face was staring at me, most likely trying to figure what he did wrong. Then he looked away.

"I shouldn't have done that." He said angrily.

Oh crap, now I hurt him.

"Ace! It's not like I don't want you to kiss me! But I can't just kiss you!" I said. I didn't want to be some fling,

"Why not?" Ace muttered.

"You just killed the last person I kissed! Not that I mind..." I said rushing through the words.

"Just shut up..." He growled, as he again kissed me.

Again I pushed him away.

"Ace! Let me finish!" I exasperated. "I need time... You've -"

"Look Quinn, just tell me one thing." He interrupted. "Do you love me?"

"Yes, but-" I started again.

"Then why are you pushing me away every time I kiss you?" He angrily asked, this time grabbing my wrists.

"Because..." I was struggling to say the right words. "Because I want it to be real... Maybe this is just because we haven't seen each other for a long time. I love you, but if we're going to be lovers, I want it to last. How can we return to being normal if we found out afterwards it doesn't work like with Cabel and I?"

"We already can't go back to normal Quinn! And why the hell would I kiss you after not seeing you for a long time?"  
I fell silent. "Do you love me Ace? Am I not going to be some fling?"

**Ace's POV**

This made me go quiet. Did I love Quinn? Sure, I thought she was sexy and enticing.

"Give me some time." I muttered after a long time. I probably just ruined it, but she was a sorta sister. A hell of a sexy one, but I couldn't leave her at some island and never see her again. And it's not like our relationship had always been a platonic one...

_**Flashback**_

__"Ace!" Quinn whispered. "Wake up!"

"Huh?" I sleepily moaned."Leave me alone..."

"You're leaving the village soon right?"

"Yeah... So?" I muttered.

"You still haven't drunk a drop of alcohol. I found Dadan's secret stash!"

"And this matters why?"

"A pirate drinks alchohol. So let's have a booze party together!" She said excitedly, her eyes twinkling.

Now this was catching my a grin I hopped out of bed, and Quinn soon followed. In the hallway she cut in front of me. I followed her, and then she suddenly started climbing up like a monkey onto one of the standards. Her long shirt allowed me to see her panties. They had polka dots on them.

"I can see your panties!" I whispered as loud as I could.

As an anwer, she pulled up the shirt.

"You can see them better now." She whispered back, grinning.

"Catch!" Quinn ordered as she gingerly let a bottle fall. Thankfully I caught it. After five minutes I had caught all the booze successfully and we were now carrying it into the treehouse.

"So what first?" I asked her.

"I'm taking the bright blue stuff. Just choose whatever you want!" Quinn said with a grin. She took a big gulp directly from the bottle. I chose a whiskey, which tasted great. As soon as our bottles wore empty, our spirits had been improved. Maybe because we drank all of them. I burst out into laughing and she joined me.

"You think we're drunk?" I asked her, slurring all the words.

"Think? It's obvious!" Quinn giggled without slurring anything. Her head tipped backwards, allowing me to see the creamy, pale, soft skin. Oh how I longed to touch it. Feel it. Without thinking I moved closer to her, and my hand slowly moved over the patch of skin. With my other hand I pulled the shirt up some more.

"Whatcha doin' Ace?" She said with a big, lazy, sloppy smile.

Again, without any forethought, I kissed her. Quinn answered my mouth, and her arm wound around my neck. My hand was now moving up her back, and her shirt barely covered her tiny tiny breasts. Now I moved my hand, and I cupped one of them. She didn't do anything to stop me. Soon my tongue entered her mouth. With vigor, her tongue moved over mine. I'd kissed many girls, but none of them excited me like her.

_**End of Flashback**_

__That's all I remembered. Maybe I had one of my narcoleptic fits. When I asked Quinn, she acted confused. The bottles surrounding us then told me she was lying, but I shrugged and let it go. I'd rather think we did do something than find out it was a dream, because that would be embarrassing. Always when I thought of Quinn I thought of the times she looked so appealing. Especially that memory.

"Did you remember the night when we both got drunk for the first time?" Quinn solemnly said.

"Uh..."

"I lied to you. It did happen." She interjected my just brilliant reply. "But I didn't want to be just one of the girls you kissed, so I denied it. I don't want it to happen again. It's not one of my better memories. I felt stupid for getting drunk. I let you feel me up and kiss me. Even though it wouldn't lead anywhere. You could have been my first Ace, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't yours. You would have been interested in me for a week and then everything would be ruined."

I was surprised at how much she had thought about it. And I felt pretty dumb too, as I would have dumped her like a brick after a week. I mumbled something unintelligibly to her.

"So tell me." She demanded.

"I don't think so." I told her, looking at the ground. "I've forgotten almost all the girls I kissed with in Fuschia Village. But never that one. It wasn't my first. Always when I thought of you, I thought of that memory. Nobody has ever held my attention that long in that way."

"Yes or no. Make it simple for me." Quinn sighed.

"Yes. I love you." I said, looking her straight in the eye.

"If you just lied, plan your funeral." She told me.

I again tried to kiss her, and this time she let me. My hands stayed on her shoulders. Her soft mouth slowly moved with mine, as if trying to savor it. Like you would when you kiss somebody goodbye. We broke away for air.

She looked me straight in the eye without wavering. No emotions were displayed on her face. Then she grinned. Quinn slung her legs around my waist and kissed me. Her tongue demanded entrance, and soon they were intertwined. Hands with long nails softly scraped over my scalp, and a soft moan escaped my lips. Her crotch pressed against mine, which was straining to be freed from my constraining pants.

"Let's get naked." She singsonged.

The three words I wanted to hear. I quickly pulled her blouse over her head and threw it over my shoulder. A lacy bra met my gaze. It didn't hide a thing. I unclasped it, and her breasts were now in full view. Moonlight allowed me to see her hardened, pink nipples. My mouth moved over to one of them, while one hand cupped the other. Soon a moan was heard from Quinn, her hands still tangled up in my hair. Slowly my hat slid off and fell in the sand. I stopped and grinned at her. Quinn's half-lidded eyes stared back at me.

"I'm scared." She said.

"You don't have to be." I told her. "I know what to do."

Her eyes looked back at me, and hesitatingly she unbuckled my pants. Then my pants dropped down and I was there in only my underwear, my hardness in full view. Slowly I slid her skirt off, together with her panties. Then I took of my boxers.

"Ace, I don't think it's going to fit."

I chuckled.

"You want to just start?"

"Okay."

I positioned her legs, and slowly I slid myself in.

"Ow!" Quinn shouted.

I stopped. After a minute or so, she nodded. She was really tight around me. She's probably really nervous. Really slow, I started a pace.

"Go faster." She whispered. Her nails were digging into my back. Then I felt her tighten and tighten, and she came. Soon after that I did too. We were both panting, laying next to each other.

"And?" I asked.

"Let's do it again."

I laughed.

**Author: Yeah, this chapter is short, but I can't really go on after this. It was sorta the main event. I'm not good with lemons, so don't go flaming me on it. It's her first time, so it's not going to be some romance novel where everything's perfect. Should this be the end, or do you guys want me to keep on going, as nobody's reviewing, and the new story I posted already got three reviews. I jump for joy when somebody gives me one with Narcoleptic Equal ?. With less than ten reviews, this story is FINITO! Your faults, as barely anybody seems to care whatever I do. I could kill off Ace and nobody would review, so yeah.**


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